WORLD INNOVATION RANKING 2026: Skyscrapers City-States Roundup by Arch Town Labs

The venture capital landscape within the digital asset and blockchain technology sectors underwent a profound transformation between 2024 and 2026. We moved beyond the era of broad-spectrum speculation and into a period characterized by infrastructure maturation, ecosystem-specific incubation, and the convergence of traditional financial technology with decentralized protocols. "Spray and pray" methodologies, which characterized the bull markets of 2020-21, have largely been replaced by highly-thesis-driven capital deployment.

A critical development in this cycle is the rise of ecosystem-centric funds - venture firms explicitly dedicated to a single layer 1 blockchain or a specific user acquisition channel. This is most visibly manifested in the surge of capital surrounding the Open Network (TON) and its integration with Telegram's 950 million user base. Three firms analyzed in this report - TON Ventures, TVM Ventures and The Open Platform (TOP) - represent this new breed of “ecosystem maximizers” who are not just investing in tokens, but are actively building the infrastructure to onboard nearly one billion users into the crypto economy.

Simultaneously, the industry is witnessing the evolution of the "liquidity partner" model, exemplified by DWF Labs. Market making and venture capital are blending to address the perennial issue of token liquidity. At the other end of the spectrum, established giants like Animoca Brands are continuing to champion the open metaverse thesis with a portfolio that rivals traditional index funds. Meanwhile, firms like CoinFund and Foresight Ventures are doubling down on the intersection of AI, media, and decentralized infrastructure.

This report provides an exhaustive, zero-fluff analysis of eight of the most consequential venture capital investors operating today: TON Ventures, TVM Ventures, The Open Platform (TOP), CoinFund, DWF Labs, Foresight Ventures, Animoca Brands, and Mirana Ventures. For each, we deconstruct their industry focus, investment stage, portfolio composition, and track record of exits, offering a nuanced view of where smart capital is flowing in the current market cycle.

TON Ventures

TON Ventures represents the institutional backbone of the rapid expansion of The Open Network. Born out of the need to structure capital flows into the Telegram ecosystem, this company operates not just as a financier, but also as a strategic gateway for developers seeking access to the massive audience of Telegram. The company formally launched its inaugural fund of $40 million to specifically target early stage growth within this ecosystem led by former members of the TON Foundation, Ian Wittkopf and Inal Kardan.

Industry Focus

The firm's mandate is strictly defined by the boundaries of the TON ecosystem. Unlike generalist funds, TON Ventures concentrates its resources on protocols that leverage Telegram's social graph and user interface. Primary sectors of interest include:

  • Telegram mini apps (TMAs): Applications that run natively within the Telegram messenger, lowering the barrier to entry for non-crypto natives.
  • GameFi and social gaming: Projects that utilize viral mechanics inherent to social messaging platforms to drive retention and asset ownership. The focus here is on "tap-to-earn" evolutions and higher fidelity gaming experiences that can run within the constraints of a mini-app.
  • DeFi infrastructure: Protocols that bring financial primitives (lending, borrowing, staking) to the TON blockchain, essential for retaining capital within the ecosystem. This includes liquid staking and yield-bearing stablecoin infrastructure.
  • Launchpads and tooling: Infrastructure that enables other developers to deploy assets and manage communities effectively on TON.

Stage

TON Ventures operates primarily in the Seed and Strategic stages. Their involvement often occurs at the earliest inflection point - when a project is moving from a concept or hackathon win to an actual product within Telegram. The “Strategic” designation is crucial; investments are often paired with grants, technical support and direct introductions to TON Foundation accelerator programs.

Number of Investments

As of early 2026, the fund maintained a highly selective but accelerating deployment pace. Early reports indicated a modest start, but recent data points to rapid expansion of the portfolio. Deal velocity picked up significantly in late 2025, reflecting maturation of the TON developer ecosystem.

Notable portfolio inclusions:

  • Akedo: A gaming infrastructure and launchpad on the BNB Chain and TON ecosystems. This $5 million Seed round (Jan 2026) highlights the cross-chain ambitions of TON-based gaming projects. Akedo represents the infrastructure layer required to launch the next generation of games that bridge Telegram users with broader crypto liquidity.
  • Nexton: A DeFi staking solution specifically for the TON ecosystem, securing a $4 million Strategic round in November 2025. This investment underscores the firm's focus on building native yield primitives.
  • Partnr (Mirai Labs): An AI-driven communication and gaming platform, raising $4 million in a Seed round (Feb 2025). This aligns with the broader trend of integrating AI agents into social messaging environments.
  • GOAT Gaming (Mighty Bear Games): A strategic investment in February 2025 focusing on AI-enhanced play-to-earn mechanics. This demonstrates the firm's interest in bringing experienced studios (Mighty Bear) into the TON ecosystem.
  • Evaa Protocol: A critical piece of DeFi infrastructure offering lending and borrowing on TON, which raised $2.5 million in a Private round in Jan 2025. Evaa is essential for capital efficiency on the network, allowing users to leverage their assets.
  • TAC: A layer facilitating EVM compatibility on TON, which raised $6.5 million in Seed funding in Nov 2024. This is a strategic infrastructure play to allow Ethereum developers to port their dApps to Telegram without rewriting code from scratch.
  • Delabs Games: A notable gaming studio investment, further reinforcing the GameFi thesis.
  • Synnax Technologies: A data analytics service that raised $1.55 million. As the ecosystem grows, on-chain data and analytics become critical for institutional adoption.
  • TONCASH: An ecosystem payment dApp investment, aimed at facilitating peer-to-peer value transfer within the messenger.

Exits

Given the fund's relatively recent inception (with a dedicated $40M structure emerging prominently around 2024/2025), and the early stage nature of its investments, traditional liquidity events (IPOs or M&As) are currently minimal. The main "exit" path for these portfolio companies is through the Token Generation Event (TGE), where initial equity or SAFT positions are converted into liquid tokens.

TVM Ventures

TVM Ventures is a separate entity from TON Ventures, although they share a common ecosystem commitment. Founded by Steve Yun, a key figure in the TON Foundation, TVM was established to address specific structural needs within the blockchain - specifically, the development of native layer 1 primitives instead of layer 2 scaling solutions.

Industry Focus

TVM Ventures operates with a "Layer 1 Maximalist" thesis for the TON network. The firm explicitly encourages reliance on Layer 2s, arguing that TON's asynchronous architecture and dynamic sharding capabilities provide sufficient scalability at the base layer.

  • DeFi and PayFi: The fund prioritizes "PayFi" (Payment Finance), aiming to modernize cross-border payments and remittances using TON's high throughput. The vision is to build financial systems capable of meeting the needs of 500 million users.
  • Native smart contract logic: They invest in teams building directly on the TON Virtual Machine (TVM), utilizing native languages like FunC and Tolk rather than merely porting Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) contracts. This ensures that applications can fully leverage the parallel processing capabilities of the TON blockchain.
  • Cross-border payments: A major vertical is enabling global remittances that bypass traditional banking rails, leveraging the ubiquity of the Telegram interface.
  • Security infrastructure: TVM Ventures collaborates with security auditors to ensure the safety of the TVM ecosystem, investing in tools that secure the network.

Stage

The investment strategy is Early-stage, encompassing Pre-seed to Series A.

  • Ticket size: The fund typically deploys between $500,000 and $1 million per project, targeting startups valued between $5 million and $10 million. This accessible ticket size makes them a high-volume, high-conviction seed investor.
  • Operational support: The firm is based in Dubai and actively hires researchers to support portfolio companies with on-chain analytics and smart contract architecture. This hands-on approach is necessary given the technical complexity of the asynchronous TON architecture.

Number of Investments

TVM Ventures launched its $100 million fund in late 2024/early 2025. Consequently, its portfolio count is currently low but growing rapidly as capital deployment accelerates.

Capital source: The fund is backed by Steve Yun and a prominent (undisclosed) Toncoin miner, ensuring deep alignment with the network's security and economics.

Notable portfolio inclusions:

  • Torch Finance: A stable exchange protocol on TON designed to facilitate low-slippage swaps. This project received a $1.5 million Pre-seed investment. Torch addresses the critical need for stablecoin liquidity, which is a prerequisite for any robust DeFi ecosystem.
  • Affluent (formerly Factorial Finance): A trustless asset management infrastructure built on TON, focusing on simplified yield solutions. This project aligns with the "DeFi" pillar of their thesis, bringing sophisticated asset management to retail users.
  • LAB: A multi-chain trading infrastructure project, indicating an interest in connecting TON liquidity with the broader crypto market.

Exits

As a fund established in November 2024 and starting operations in 2025, TVM Ventures does not have any material exits to report. Currently, capital is being deployed to bootstrap the native DeFi ecosystem of TON. Success in the short term for the firm will be the successful launch of the mainnet and adoption of portfolio protocols, rather than immediate financial returns. The investment horizon likely spans 3-5 years, in line with the maturation of the TON DeFi landscape.

The Open Platform (TOP)

The Open Platform (TOP) is unique among investors on this list. It functions less as a traditional passive allocator and more as a venture builder. TOP is a conglomerate that actively develops, acquires and scales infrastructure within the Telegram/TON ecosystem. It is widely regarded as the most dominant strategic force driving the "SuperApp" vision of Telegram.

Industry Focus

TOP’s focus is the Telegram-Crypto Interface. Their thesis revolves around "Wallet in Telegram" being the onboarding funnel for the next billion crypto users. Their operations are split into investment and direct product development.

  • Consumer apps: Tools that integrate seamlessly into the Telegram UI to provide utility to everyday users.
  • Infrastructure: The core rails required for the ecosystem to function, such as wallets and marketplaces.
  • GameFi: Casual games that utilize the social virality of Telegram to drive massive user acquisition at low cost.
  • Venture building: Through its TOP Labs division, it incubates projects from zero, providing them with direct access to the Wallet API and Telegram's distribution channels.

Stage

TOP invests across the lifecycle but has a heavy bias toward Incubation and Growth.

  • Venture building: They often start with a concept and build the team around it, rather than just funding existing startups.
  • Acquisition: TOP is aggressive in M&A, acquiring critical infrastructure to consolidate the ecosystem. This "buy and build" strategy allows them to control the quality of the user experience.

Number of Investments

TOP Labs currently manages a portfolio of over 25 projects which collectively serve more than 235 million users. This user count distinguishes TOP from almost every other VC; their portfolio companies leverage the pre-existing user base of Telegram to achieve immediate scale.

Notable portfolio inclusions:

  • Wallet in Telegram: The crown jewel of the ecosystem, a custodial and self-custodial wallet integrated directly into the messenger menu, now serving over 100 million users. This is the primary gateway for users entering the TON ecosystem.
  • Tonkeeper: A leading non-custodial wallet, which was 100% acquired by TOP in January 2026. This acquisition consolidated TOP's dominance over the wallet infrastructure vertical.
  • Notcoin: A viral "tap-to-earn" game that pioneered the current wave of Telegram gaming. TOP was instrumental in its incubation and launch, proving the "viral social gaming" thesis.
  • STON.fi: A decentralized exchange (DEX) on TON that raised a $9.5 million Series A. STON.fi provides the necessary liquidity layer for tokens launching on TON.
  • Getgems: The primary NFT marketplace on TON, facilitating the trading of digital collectibles and game assets.
  • Pluto Studio & PlayDeck: Gaming studios and publishing platforms developing content for the Telegram app center, ensuring a steady stream of content for users.
  • Unicorn status: TOP itself has been valued at over $1 billion, backed by external heavyweights like Ribbit Capital, validating its ecosystem dominance.

Exits

TOP generates liquidity through a mix of strategic acquisitions and token launches.

  • Token Generation Events (TGEs): The launch of the NOT token (Notcoin) is one of the most significant "exits" or liquidity events in the ecosystem's history. It distributes value to millions of users and validates TOP's incubation model.
  • M&A Activity: Rather than selling companies, TOP is currently on the buy-side (e.g., the Tonkeeper acquisition), signaling that they are in an accumulation phase to build a vertically integrated empire. They are building a conglomerate similar to Tencent or WeChat, where value is captured through the aggregation of services rather than the sale of individual units.

CoinFund

CoinFund represents the "old guard" of crypto-native venture capital, having operated since 2015. Unlike the TON-specific funds, CoinFund maintains a broader, thesis-driven approach that spans the entire Web3 landscape, with a recent heavy emphasis on the convergence of Artificial Intelligence and blockchain.

Industry Focus

CoinFund’s investment thesis is intellectually rigorous, often targeting complex technical problems and "hard tech."

  • AI x Crypto: A major conviction bet for the firm. They believe decentralized networks are the necessary substrate for verifying compute and data in an AI-dominated world. They are investing heavily in the "Worldview" that AI agents will be the primary economic actors in the future.
  • Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN): Protocols that incentivize hardware deployment and resource sharing.
  • DeFi and Infrastructure: Core innovations in yield, settlement, and scalability.
  • NFTs and Intellectual Property: Early believers in the financialization of digital culture and the protection of IP on-chain.

Stage

CoinFund invests primarily at Seed and Series A, though they have the capacity for follow-on capital through their Ventures fund.

  • Launchpad to Growth: They position themselves as "founders first," helping technical teams navigate the "valley of death" between seed funding and Series A scaling.
  • Seed capabilities: They launched a $300 million Ventures I fund specifically to back ambitious founders at the earliest stages, demonstrating their commitment to early-stage risk.

Number of Investments

The firm has an extensive portfolio with over 100 investments made over the last decade. Their deal flow remains active despite market volatility, with a disciplined deployment strategy.

Notable portfolio inclusions:

  • Gensyn: A decentralized compute protocol for AI model training, representing their flagship AI investment. This project addresses the centralization of AI compute power.
  • Gunzilla Games: A AAA gaming studio integrating blockchain for asset ownership. This investment highlights their belief in high-fidelity blockchain gaming.
  • Flow: A Layer 1 blockchain designed for consumer applications (Seed investment). This early bet demonstrated their foresight in consumer-grade blockchain scaling.
  • Veda: A vault infrastructure platform for DeFi (Series A, 2025). Veda simplifies yield generation for users, aligning with the "DeFi usability" thesis.
  • Sindri: A zero-knowledge proof infrastructure platform (Seed, $5M). This investment supports the scaling of privacy and verification on-chain.
  • Prime Intellect: A decentralized AI development lab, further cementing their leadership in the AI x Crypto vertical.

Exits

CoinFund has a proven track record of returning capital through both acquisitions and token liquidity. PitchBook data indicates approximately 22 realized exits.

Notable exits and liquidity events:

  • Opyn: A DeFi options protocol (Exit date: July 2025). This exit validates the thesis on sophisticated financial derivatives in DeFi.
  • Serum: A Solana-based DEX (Exit date: May 2025). This exit occurred amidst the restructuring of the Solana DeFi landscape.
  • Fold: A bitcoin rewards app, which exited via a Reverse Merger in Feb 2025. This demonstrates CoinFund's ability to utilize traditional finance exit vehicles.
  • GEO Protocol: Listed as an exit (though noted as "Out of Business" in one snippet, illustrating the risk profile inherent in early-stage VC).
  • Strategic Sales: The firm has demonstrated the ability to navigate M&A, a relatively rare exit route in crypto compared to token sales, showing their sophistication in deal structuring.

DWF Labs

DWF Labs is perhaps the most controversial and high-velocity firm on this list. Operating as a hybrid market maker and multi-stage web3 investment firm, DWF labs is known for its aggressive capital deployment and its role in providing liquidity to tokens on centralized exchanges.

Industry Focus

DWF Labs is sector-agnostic but liquidity-focused. Their investments are often tied to market-making agreements, meaning they support projects that require deep order books on exchanges.

  • Trading infrastructure: DEXs, CEXs, and derivatives platforms that facilitate volume.
  • Meme coins and culture: Unlike traditional VCs who may shy away from "unserious" assets, DWF embraces high-volume speculative assets (e.g., investing in meme tokens on Solana or TON). They view these as valid cultural financial assets.
  • Ecosystem support: They have committed significant funds to specific ecosystems like TON, EOS, and Algorand to stimulate activity and liquidity depth.
  • Institutional DeFi: They recently launched a $75 million DeFi-focused fund to target projects building "institutional-grade" liquidity and settlement products.

Stage

Their "stage" is fluid. They participate in venture rounds but are most famous for liquid token investments - purchasing large tranches of tokens from a project's treasury to provide working capital and market making services.

  • Incubation: They have launched incubation programs to capture value earlier in the lifecycle, moving upstream from just being a secondary market participant.
  • Growth: They frequently invest in established tokens to facilitate listing on new exchanges or to fund marketing pushes, acting as a growth partner.

Number of Investments

DWF Labs operates at a volume that dwarfs traditional VCs. They claim a portfolio of over 800 projects.

  • Activity Level: In 2023-2024, they were ranked as one of the most active crypto investors globally.
  • Broad Net: Their strategy is akin to indexing the entire altcoin market, with a specific focus on assets that have high volatility and trading interest.

Notable portfolio inclusions:

  • Synthetix: A major DeFi derivatives protocol. DWF provided liquidity to help scale their perps trading volume.
  • Fetch.ai: An AI-focused blockchain project. DWF supported their token liquidity during the AI boom.
  • TON Ecosystem: Significant capital deployed into TON ecosystem tokens to support liquidity, acting as a primary market maker for the chain.
  • Meme Tokens: Investments in assets like Floki and TokenFi to drive market depth, validating the "meme coin supercycle" thesis.
  • Algorand: Strategic partnership and token purchase to revitalize the chain's DeFi ecosystem.

Exits

For a market maker, "exit" has a different definition. DWF Labs exits positions continuously through trading activities.

  • Mechanism: Their business model involves buying discounted tokens from treasuries and managing the liquidity of those tokens on the open market. This allows them to realize profits incrementally rather than waiting for a single liquidity event.
  • Performance: While specific "exit multiples" are opaque due to the nature of their trading books, they have successfully managed liquidity for hundreds of clients, effectively realizing gains through market spreads and token appreciation during their tenure as market makers. Their model is built on velocity of capital rather than long-term hold periods.

Foresight Ventures

Foresight Ventures have constructed a comprehensive "full-stack" crypto ecosystem. Rather than just investing capital, they have integrated media, public exchange infrastructure, and secondary markets into their operational model. They are an investment arm associated with the broader Foresight News and Bitget exchange ecosystems.

Industry Focus

The firm focuses on "ecosystem infrastructure" and high-impact consumer applications, leveraging their media and exchange arms to drive value.

  • Media: They are the majority investor in The Block, one of the leading crypto intelligence and news platforms. This provides them with information asymmetry and a powerful distribution channel.
  • Exchange Infrastructure: Closely tied to Bitget (which acts as an anchor LP), giving them unique insight into retail flow and listing opportunities. This synergy allows them to fast-track portfolio companies to liquidity.
  • Technological Infrastructure: Zero-knowledge proofs, Layer 1s, and modular blockchain components.
  • Consumer Apps: High-growth consumer applications that can bridge the gap to mainstream adoption.

Stage

Foresight Ventures invests across the spectrum, from Seed to Late-stage.

  • Multi-strategy: They manage several distinct funds, including a VC fund, a secondary fund (purchasing equity/tokens from early investors), and a Fund of Funds (FoF). This allows them to capture value at every stage of the market cycle.
  • Accelerator: They operate Foresight X, an accelerator for early-stage projects, funneling the best deals into their main fund.

Number of Investments

Foresight Ventures has a substantial portfolio, distinct from the UK-based "Foresight Group" (a traditional private equity firm). The crypto arm has backed dozens of high-profile protocols.

Notable portfolio inclusions:

  • The Block: Acquired a majority stake at a $70 million valuation, securing a strategic media asset. This acquisition was a landmark deal in the crypto media space.
  • Matrixport: A major digital asset financial services platform, highlighting their interest in CeFi infrastructure.
  • Aptos & Sei Network: High-performance Layer 1 blockchains. These investments show their commitment to the "next-generation L1" thesis.
  • WalletConnect: The standard for connecting wallets to dApps, a critical piece of Web3 UX infrastructure.
  • Story Protocol: An IP management protocol for the AI era, addressing the intersection of content ownership and generative AI.
  • Ether.Fi: A leading liquid restaking protocol, capitalizing on the "restaking" narrative on Ethereum.
  • Morph: A consumer-focused Layer 2 blockchain, aligned with their consumer application thesis.
  • Shardeum: An autoscaling Layer 1 blockchain, addressing the scalability trilemma.

Exits

  • Media Acquisition: The purchase of The Block was a strategic deployment of capital, though not an exit for them, it represents a major asset on their balance sheet that generates strategic value.
  • Secondary Market: Their dedicated secondary fund allows them to engineer exits for other investors, positioning them as a liquidity provider in the illiquid venture market. This capability makes them a preferred partner for early investors looking to cash out.
  • Bitget Synergy: Many portfolio companies find liquidity through listing on Bitget, providing an efficient pathway to public markets for their investments. This vertical integration reduces the "listing risk" for their portfolio companies.

Animoca Brands

Animoca Brands is a titan in the Web3 space, fundamentally shaping the narrative around "Digital Property Rights." Based in Hong Kong, the firm is both a prolific investor and a builder of its own products (e.g., The Sandbox).

Industry Focus

The firm’s thesis is singular and expansive: The Open Metaverse. They believe that true digital ownership (via NFTs) will underpin the future internet economy.

  • Blockchain Gaming: The core of their portfolio. They invest in studios, infrastructure, and guilds that are building the content layer of the metaverse.
  • Education: Through subsidiaries like TinyTap, they explore "learn-to-earn" models, incentivizing education through tokenomics.
  • Metaverse Infrastructure: Virtual worlds, avatars, and interoperability standards that allow assets to move between environments.
  • Ecosystem Validator: Animoca has become the largest validator on TON, signaling a strategic pivot to support Telegram gaming and the "superapp" metaverse.

Stage

Animoca invests at every stage, from Pre-seed to Pre-IPO. They are often the lead investor, signaling strong market validation for the project. Their brand act as a stamp of approval in the Web3 gaming space.

Number of Investments

Animoca Brands holds the title for one of the most voluminous portfolios in the industry.

  • Count: Over 518 investments.
  • Pace: Even in the slower market of 2024, they invested in approximately 60 new projects in the first three quarters. This high volume approach makes them effectively an index fund for the entire GameFi and NFT sector.

Notable portfolio inclusions:

  • The Sandbox: A leading decentralized virtual world (subsidiary). This is their flagship product, showcasing their vision of user-generated content and ownership.
  • Mocaverse: The firm's membership NFT collection and ecosystem project, designed to unify their vast network of portfolio companies.
  • OpenSea: The largest NFT marketplace, a critical infrastructure bet.
  • Axie Infinity (Sky Mavis): The game that ignited the play-to-earn phenomenon. Animoca was an early backer, reaping significant returns.
  • TON Ecosystem: Significant investments in TON gaming infrastructure, aligning with their mass adoption thesis.
  • Recent 2025/2026 deals: Investments in Wizzwoods, Standard Money, and KapKap. These recent deals show a continued focus on gaming and financial tools.

Exits

Animoca actively recycles capital through exits, having recorded 62 exits to date.

  • BountyBay: A recent exit recorded in December 2024. This demonstrates their ability to find liquidity even in niche markets.
  • Token Sales: The firm generates significant revenue from realized gains on token investments (e.g., $28 million realized in YTD Q3 2024). This cash flow funds their operations and new investments.
  • Strategy: Unlike VCs that must return capital to LPs in a 10-year window, Animoca operates as a balance sheet investor. This allows them to hold assets perpetually if they believe in the long-term strategic value, while selling liquid tokens to fund operations. This "long money" approach is a key competitive advantage.

Mirana Ventures

Mirana Ventures is the venture arm of the Bybit exchange and a strategic partner to the Mantle Network. It operates with a "DAO-first" mentality, often investing capital from the BitDAO (now Mantle) treasury ecosystem.

Industry Focus

Mirana focuses on projects that can leverage the Bybit exchange for liquidity and the Mantle Layer 2 for infrastructure.

  • DeFi: High-yield protocols and derivatives that can be integrated into the Mantle ecosystem.
  • Infrastructure: Solutions that enhance the Ethereum ecosystem (via Mantle), improving scalability and user experience.
  • SocialFi: Projects bridging social interactions and finance (e.g., investments in Kaito).
  • DeSci (Decentralized Science): Recent investments in BIO Protocol show an expanding interest in non-financial use cases for blockchain.

Stage

Mirana invests from Pre-seed to Series C, with ticket sizes ranging from $1 million to $40 million. They are a "Lifecycle Partner," offering listing support and treasury management.

Number of investments

The firm has a robust portfolio of 201 investments.

2025 Activity: They remained highly active, with 29 participations in 2025 alone, deploying nearly $400 million in capital value across those rounds. This massive deployment capability makes them a top-tier lead investor.

Notable portfolio inclusions:

  • Mantle (MNT): As a strategic partner, they are deeply invested in the success of this L2, aligning their venture capital deployment with the network's growth.
  • Ethena: A synthetic dollar protocol that has seen massive growth (11.2x ROI). This bet on a "crypto-native stablecoin" paid off handsomely.
  • Lombard: A bitcoin restaking protocol (10.2x ROI). This investment captured the "BTCFi" narrative early.
  • BIO Protocol: A decentralized science (DeSci) project, showcasing their thesis on emerging verticals.
  • Toncoin: Strategic investment to align with the TON ecosystem, hedging their L2 bets with exposure to other high-growth chains.
  • Solana Ecosystem: Recent investments in BULK and Titan (DEXs on Solana) demonstrate a cross-chain liquidity thesis.

Exits

Mirana actively manages its treasury and realizes gains to recycle into the Mantle ecosystem.

  • MNT Token Event: A major on-chain event involved the deposit of $12.2 million worth of MNT tokens to Bybit in 2025. This signaled a liquidity realization or strategic market operation to deepen liquidity.
  • ROI Drivers: Their high ROIs on projects like Ethena and Lombard suggest significant unrealized gains that are likely partially taken off the table during TGEs. The firm is adept at rotating capital from mature winners into new, high-growth opportunities.

Conclusion

The eight firms analyzed in this report illustrate a clear segmentation in the Web3 venture capital market of 2026.

The Ecosystem Architects (TON Ventures, TVM Ventures, TOP) are betting everything on the "SuperApp" thesis. They are not merely picking stocks; they are funding the plumbing required to turn Telegram into a global economic platform. Their success is binary: if TON succeeds in becoming the "WeChat of Web3," these firms will become the dominant financial engines of the next decade.

The Industrialists (CoinFund, Foresight, Mirana) view crypto as an industry requiring professional infrastructure. Whether it is AI compute (CoinFund), media and exchange rails (Foresight), or Layer 2 scaling (Mirana), they are building the "heavy industry" of the digital age. Their portfolios are diversified across infrastructure that will be needed regardless of which specific consumer app wins.

The Network Effects Giants (Animoca, DWF) operate at a scale that makes them index-like proxies for the market. Animoca leverages IP and culture to create network effects, effectively betting on the "attention economy" of the metaverse. DWF leverages liquidity and volatility, betting on the "financialization of everything."

For founders, the choice of investor among these eight depends entirely on the strategic alignment required: TOP for Telegram distribution, DWF for market liquidity, Animoca for brand IP, or CoinFund for deep-tech guidance. As we move through 2026, the divergence between "strategic ecosystem capital" and "mercenary liquidity" will likely become the defining narrative of venture fund performance.