Bing Ventures, a pioneering VC firm in Asia that backs entrepreneurs and early-stage startups in Web3 and blockchain, concluded its side event entitled “Web3 Reimagined” at the Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2023 on April 14.
The event, in partnership with AI-driven Web3 content aggregator Followin, convened some of Asia’s leading VCs, startups, and media leaders to reflect on the opportunities and challenges of the road ahead for Web3 amid the complex and ever-changing industry landscape.
Top Investment Themes for 2023
Before a packed auditorium, Wayne Wu, Partner of Bing Ventures delivered keynote remarks that shared the VC firm’s views on the top investment themes for 2023. “Although been through a treacherous 2022, the industry has shown its tenacity in the first quarter of 2023. The recovery of the industry will be driven by technological innovations,” he said.
Wu shared the specific innovations that Bing Ventures is looking at under six investment themes including Web3 infrastructure and applications, TradFi’s integration with DeFi, Ethereum scaling, collaboration tools for DAOs, GameFi, and the intersection of digital identity (DID) and social networking.
“We think GameFi projects utilizing new human-computer interaction technology such as VR, AR, and ChatGPT and delving deep into the in-game uses of NFTs are promising, especially those with innovative token economies,” he explained.
His forward-looking and insightful speech set the tone for the rest of the event.
A Boom in Consumer-facing Applications is Coming
Besides the keynote speech, the event included two panel discussions highlighting diverging perspectives from the point of view of entrepreneurs in the first and a more digital-assets-focused discussion in the second.
Speakers on the two panels include Josh Du, Head of Digital Asset Portfolios at Animoca Brands; Christian Ng, Partner at GBV Capital; Calvin Poon, Investment Associate at The Spartan Group; Albert Chang, Managing Partner at Chiron Partners; Kevin Shao, Cofounder of Bitrise Capital; Shier Han, Cofounder of NFTScan; Niels Ma, Initiator of BuidlerDAO; Lionel Yuan, CEO of DeSyn Protocol; Gabriele Bandi, VP of Sales & Business Development at Hex Trust; Robert McCracken, Ecosystem Lead, Alchemy Pay; and Wego C., Cofounder of BlockTempo.
The first panel was moderated by Andrew Han, Chief Branding Officer of Followin, while the second panel was moderated by Yanyan (Chunyan) Liang, Co-founder & CMO of Blockchain Academy Group.
It was worth noticing that panelists on both stages shared positive views on the development of the industry and believed the flipping point for a boom in Web3 consumer applications may be imminent. Entrepreneurs in several sectors indicated that the fundamentals of the industry were not shacked by the high-profile black swan incidents and bankruptcies in 2022. Talents continue to flow into the space, entrepreneurial activities are strong, and regulators worldwide are gradually learning about Web3. In addition, empowering technologies such as AI are bringing new possibilities to the industry.
Sector-wise, several investors including Animoca Brands mentioned that they are doubling down on consumer-facing applications from gaming, fashion, music, and education to custody solutions, payments, and social networking. As more and more already-successful Web2 companies realize that their business models can work better with Web3 technologies, the number of consumer-facing applications will grow exponentially.
The event ended after a lively cocktail party and was attended by over 200 invited guests.
“As a research-driven VC firm, we host and support events from workshops to hackathons to help facilitate meaningful exchanges of ideas. We are glad the side event was a success and look forward to meeting more industry participants at our future events,” Wu commented.
