Uniswap launches a venture fund, has already invested in multiple "DeFi 1.0" protocols

Uniswap announced on 4/12 the establishment of a venture capital department called Uniswap Labs Ventures (ULV), which will focus on investing in Web3 enterprises and related projects.

According to the announcement, Uniswap Labs aims to lead millions into the Web3 economy. The venture arm will invest in Web3 teams at different stages and levels, ranging from infrastructure and development tools to consumer-facing applications.

Currently, they have invested in 11 companies and other protocols, including:

1. Tenderly: Ethereum developer platform.
2. LayerZero: Full-stack interoperability protocol.
3. PartyDAO: NFT collective bidding organization.
4. MakerDAO: Decentralized autonomous organization.
5. Aave: Lending protocol.
6. Compound Protocol: Lending protocol.

Uniswap also mentioned Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and the governance mechanisms of the aforementioned protocols are within its investment scope.

Mary-Catherine Lader will serve as Chief Operating Officer of the venture arm, and former The Block Research analyst, Uniswap's Head of Strategy Matteo Leibowitz will be the Managing Director of the venture arm. He stated:

We are redefining crypto-native funds.

Uniswap's UNI token has dropped by 6.45% in the past 24 hours, trading at $9.07 at the time of writing.