Metarise and Labrys announce five start-ups tipped to be the next web3 stars
Labrys, Australia’s largest on-shore blockchain development agency, and Metarise, an Australian-based web3 accelerator and venture fund, have today announced the five start-ups featured in the inaugural Metarise accelerator, an incubator program focused on bringing projects in the burgeoning web3 industry to life across Asia-Pacific.
The successful teams, narrowed down from a large volume of applicants, have embarked on a seven-week intensive journey, centred around custom workshops, mentoring sessions and access to a web3 network. Each startup has received education and coaching on market validation, product design, token economics, minting, marketing and more, with mentors including Animoca Brands, The Sandbox, Coinvise, Mintgate and BlockTower Capital.
The program – which also involved partners Dao Under, Metavise and Mintgate – culminated today, at the inaugural Demo Day, with the start-ups pitching for investment and partnership opportunities.
The five start-ups are:
- NFT FC – A decentralised platform to identify and support upcoming football players. It empowers talented players to reach their full potential and provides fans with the opportunity to participate in their success.
- Racer Club – An Ethereum based racing community game where holders can play in their own Racer Club with their own NFTs as 3D racers. Each club uses their own NFTs and tokens in their game economy.
- Insider – A next-gen brand membership platform. Insider is a no-code tool that enables brands to build custom NFT brand memberships and create deeper community activation.
- MetaTrees NFT – A token of support to plant a real tree on land in NSW. The project goal is to plant 25,000 trees on a farm to start the regeneration process.
- UpsideFinance – A portfolio tracker and DeFi aggregator that allows users to easily manage their DeFi investments in one place.
Finley Hayhurst, Founder of NFT FC, shared, “We believe web3 and the use of NFT’s will allow football fans to have more of a voice. We’re excited to develop the relationship between players and fans by allowing supporters to participate in their journey. Metarise has accelerated our learning and shown us new ways to think about how NFT’s can be used to benefit the football community.”
Steve Glaveski, Co-Founder of Metarise, commented, “Web3 is flush with energy, enthusiasm and ideas. But ideas are a commodity, and execution is not. Far too often, bright young founders are climbing the wrong mountain or using the wrong tools. That’s why we established Metarise – to give founders access to world class coaching, tailored workshops, and our extended network. By focusing on fundamentals as opposed to hype, we’re giving them the best chance of not only climbing the right mountain, but reaching the summit.”
Lachlan Feeney, Founder and Executive Director of Labrys, added, “We’ve not even scratched the surface of web3’s immense potential, but through initiatives like this we’re helping to turn theoretical potential into practical reality. We’re hugely privileged to be involved with so many leaders in the space and can’t wait to help Australia establish itself as a true global leader. With the right regulatory support, the innovation of the start-ups like these – and many more like them, and support through programs like Metarise, Australia can establish itself as a global leader in the most important technology since the invention of the internet itself.”
Web3 is tipped to become a multi-trillion dollar industry by 2030, however, only 0.1% of the world’s 30 million software developers are active in web3. In response, a host of web3 networks and protocols have announced over US$9 billion worth of ecosystem development funds in the last 18 months, including Avalanche ($200 million), Harmony ($300 million), Algorand ($500 million), and TRON’s $1,111,111 ecosystem fund.
But capital is one thing, Metarise says, and more must be done to identify, attract, educate, and develop talent and projects.
