Cake DeFi launches $100M venture arm for Web3, gaming and fintech initiatives

Singapore-based decentralized finance (DeFi) services firm Cake DeFi announced the launch of a $100 million venture arm dedicated to serving as accelerators for Web3, gaming, nonfungible tokens (NFT) and other crypto initiatives.

The newly launched $100 million venture arm, Cake DeFi Ventures (CDV), will fund crypto startups that complement the company’s core business. According to Cake DeFi, the venture firm “will be focused on investing in tech startups across Web3, the metaverse, the NFT space, gaming, esports and fintech spaces.”

Cake DeFi’s primary suite of services includes liquidity mining, staking and lending of cryptocurrencies — aimed at generating high returns from existing crypto holdings. In addition to receiving CDV’s funding, the announcement read:

“Portfolio companies have the opportunity to access numerous Cake products, connections, users, resources, and expertise within the global blockchain industry.”

U-Zyn Chua, co-founder and chief technology officer of Cake DeFi, said that investing in early-stage crypto startups “will allow us to enhance our Web3 offerings.” In addition to advising relevant startups to share their project details with CDV, the company has also opened doors to other VC firms and investors for co-investment opportunities or strategic partnerships.

Related: Singapore saw 13x jump in crypto investments in 2021: KPMG

A new report from Big Four accounting firm KPMG highlighted a 10x increase in Singapore’s crypto-related investments last year — up from $110 million in 2020 to $1.48 billion in 2021.

As Cointelegraph reported, the substantial increase in crypto investments is primarily due to active governmental efforts to stimulate the capital market. Most notably, the Singapore government established a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) listing framework, which allows fast-growing firms and unicorns to go public.

Moreover, this year, the government has also taken proactive measures to regulate speculative digital assets.