Quick take:
- The fund will back startups building on the TON ecosystem, especially DeFI and PayFi projects.
- The fund specifically targets early-stage startups valued at $5 million to $10 million as it aims to take the lead position with checks of $500,000 to $1 million.
- TVM will also provide $5 million in farming liquidity to help protocols establish the minimum liquidity needed for their projects.
Former TON Foundation president Steve Yun has launched a new spin-off fund, which comes less than six months following the launch of TON Ventures, last August.
Dubbed TVM ventures after the TON Virtual Machine, the new fund launches with $100 million from Yun himself and an undisclosed Toncoin miner, The Block reported. The fund will back startups building on the TON ecosystem, especially DeFi (decentralised Finance) and PayFi (Payment Finance) projects.
“Regarding DeFi, it will be imperative to build natively on TON, including the smart contract logic written on TVM directly,” Yun said, adding “PayFi is cross-chain by nature and therefore more flexible, but 100% must support the TON network.”
The announcement comes less than six months after another TON ecosystem-focused fund, TON Ventures launched last August with $40 million in funding.
Like TON Ventures founders, Yun is a member of TON Foundation, despite recently stepping down from his position as president.
According to Yun, his fund is mainly focused on DeFi and PayFi because he believes the TON ecosystem will become a market leader in payments. “Our focus is to build an advanced and comprehensive financial system capable of meeting the financial needs of 500 million users in the next few years,” he said.
The fund specifically targets early-stage startups valued at $5 million to $10 million as it aims to take the lead position with checks of $500,000 to $1 million. TVM will also provide $5 million in farming liquidity to help protocols establish the minimum liquidity needed for their projects.
The fund has already invested in four TON-based projects, including Factorial, Torch Finance, Fiva and Memes Labs.
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