A new venture capital fund called “Protagonist,” jointly built by Saber Labs, has officially launched with a budget of $100 million.
1/ Today @ProtagonistXYZ is announcing the launch of its inaugural $100M early-stage crypto fund and incubation lab.https://t.co/xTEkGZbexp
— Dylan 🚢 (@DylanMacalinao) July 12, 2022
Founders Dylan Macalinao and Ian Macalinao of Saber Labs, the “team” behind the cross-chain decentralized exchange on Solana, just set up a $100 million development fund.
Based in Miami, Protagonist plans to invest in and incubate early-stage Web3 protocols and startups focused on gaming, infrastructure, security, and privacy. Recently, the foundation funded Aptos, a new layer-1 blockchain; Cardinal, an NFT utility protocol on Solana; and Cogni, a digital banking platform. In addition, the Protagonist is also developing and incubating homegrown protocols.
Macalinao said in a statement:
“Protagonist is focused on investing and incubating core protocols that support the emerging Web3 ecosystem. More Blockchains will continue to thrive as each network forms its niche of applications, and over the next 20 years, we are excited to play a big role in supporting these networks”.
The fund was jointly founded by two entrepreneurs and angel investors, George Bousis and Harry Hurst. Bousis is the founder and CEO of Raise and Slide, a company that provides payment solutions, gift cards, and loyalty programs. Hurst is Pipe’s co-founder and CEO, a recurring revenue trading platform.
It remains unclear who is behind the Protagonist, and the fund does not disclose its investors. As for Saber Labs, which raised 47.7 million last year from Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital, Multicoin Capital, and Jump Capital.
