Mantle Core submitted a proposal on BitDAO’s governance forum on Feb. 26 to create a $200 million fund dedicated to early-stage Web3 startups. This ecosystem fund aims to foster adoption of the Mantle network by developers and Dapps.
Mantle is an Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by the BitDAO ecosystem. According to the proposal, a $200 million capital pool will be deployed within the Mantle ecosystem over the next three years. BitDAO's treasury to offer $100 million in USD coin, an additional $100 million will be provided by external matching capital from "strategic venture partners."
Funds that have expressed interest in participating under Mantle's proposal include Dragonfly Capital, Pantera, Folius Ventures, Play Ventures Future Fund, Spartan, Lemniscap, Selini Capital, Cadenza Ventures and QCP Capital. If approved, Mantle EcoFund and Venture Partners will participate in the project on a 1:1 co-investment basis. Web3 startups raising pre-seed, seed and Series A funding will be targeted by the Ecosystem Fund.
A Mantle spokesperson told Cointelegraph via email that the fund plans to have a three-year active investment period, plus an optional two-year extension. The initial fund operator will be composed of venture partners from Mirana Ventures, Bybit and BitDAO, and the investment committee will be composed of representatives from Mirana Ventures, Mantle, BitDAO and Bybit.
A spokesperson for Mantle said: “The fund aims to invest in over 100 projects deployed on Mantle and have a Multiple Invested Capital (MOIC) of 1.5x cumulative performance over the lifetime of the fund.” The management fee will be "industry standard", with a 2% fee to support the EcoFund team's operating expenses, including sourcing, due diligence, legal, portfolio support and fund administration.
Across the crypto industry, similar initiatives aim to drive adoption and innovation. Last year, Ethereum scaling solution Polygon launched a $100 million fund aimed at improving access to decentralized finance, attracting users and accelerating adoption.
