KuCoin Launches Revamped Incubator Program, $50M Crypto Fund
Beyond money, KuCoin opens itself up and allow partners to access the benefits of being the world’s 5th largest crypto exchange
Seychelles-based crypto exchange, KuCoin has broadened its investment and incubation program with the official launch of KuCoin Labs. The crypto market analysis and research institution is the latest addition to the KuCoin ecosystem.
The first milestone of the KuCoin Labs is a $50 million fund targeting early-stage startups across verticals that include blockchain, crypto, DeFi, and fintech. Beyond money, the company wants to open itself up and allow partners to access the benefits of being the world’s 5th largest crypto exchange by trading volumes.
KuCoin says the dual launch aims to provide entrepreneurs with industry support and resources to help them kick-off and grow their startups and facilitate the development of their products in line with market demands.
The initiative builds upon the work done by KuCoin’s investment and research force over the last two years. Since 2019, a group of crypto experts have engaged in market research, analysis, investment and incubation to build tangible solutions that provide sustainable growth of the blockchain economy.
As a global investment operation with a presence across many innovation hubs, KuCoin Labs aims to provide the necessary resources and expertise to developers and respective technologies. Specifically, KuCoin VC arm will offer candidates marketing and PR support, business partnership, fast-track to secondary market, blockchain technical support, legal advice, business planning, token economy design, and more.
The breadth of projects KuCoin Labs will invest in includes: fintech, crypto companies and protocols, decentralized finance (DeFi) as well as enabling technologies such as AI and cybersecurity.
KuCoin Labs screens next crypto gems
In a statement, KuCoin Labs said it diversifies and intensifies investments into projects at a very early stage to help more BUIDLers achieve sustainable growth and success in the decentralized world.
As such, the incubator program will provide critical support and funding to selected projects to help them deliver products with clear product-market fit. In addition to the funds, the team will closely track the project’s success with periodic milestones and coaching to ensure they are on track to achieve their goals.
Commenting on the launch, KuCoin Global CEO, Johnny Lyu stated, “As the crypto market cap breaks $2 trillion, KuCoin has also seen explosive growth. KuCoin’s trading volume for Q1 increased by 465%, with user growth increasing by 577%. With the launch of KuCoin Labs, KuCoin will discover more hidden gems in the crypto space, and empower their development through various KuCoin offerings including the upcoming KuCoin Community Chain. Together, we will drive for the mass adoption of blockchain.”
Going forward, KuCoin Labs is aiming to operate the program in different parts of the world to address what it sees as opportunities for “the next crypto gems.”
KuCoin, backed by IDG and Matrix Partners, was established in September 2017. Since then, it has grown into one of the popular crypto exchanges that provides spot trading, P2P fiat trading, futures, Pool-X, and lending to its 6 million users.