Bill Ackman, Animoca Brands Back Web3 Global Venture Fund

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Bill Ackman is among the early backers of a web3 venture fund focused on supporting the metaverse, gaming, social media and decentralized finance.

Closing on $50 million in funding announced Monday, OP Ventures Fund I counted the hedge fund manager among its supporters which also included Solana co-founder Raj Gokal, Terra founder Do Kwon, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, billionaire financier Alan Howard and Asian gaming giant Animoca Brands Corp.

Web3 applications have been seeing an influx of interest from some of the largest venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, while also facing criticisms about technical features and mechanisms from high-profile tech leaders like Jack Dorsey.

The investment is the latest from traditional money mangers looking to embrace a new iteration of the world wide web based on blockchain technology, following similar calls to action over the past year. Last month Pershing Square’s Ackman called on New York officials to facilitate more crypto innovation in the state while Howard -- the co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management -- has been exploring the area of non-fungible tokens recently.

Founded last year, OP Crypto plans to focus on cross-border investments between the U.S. and Asia and has invested in more than 10 web3 projects so far, including crypto gaming project Merit Circle and Aurory. 

The firm is headed by David Gan, a former Morgan Stanley analyst and strategy director of Asian crypto exchange Huobi. OP Ventures had initially raised $25 million from investors including Huobi, Galaxy’s Vision Hill and Digital Currency Group.

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