Binance, the global blockchain company behind the world’s largest crypto-asset exchange by trading volume, and WazirX, an India-based bitcoin exchange, today announced “Blockchain for India” – a joint initiative to support the development and growth of blockchain startups in India.
In 2019, Binance acquired WazirX with the vision of promoting the use and adoption of blockchain technologies in India. Now, Binance and WazirX have jointly set up a USD 50 million Blockchain for India fund (backed by BNB, BUSD, and WRX digital assets) to incubate and invest in blockchain projects and startups focused on solving industrial and social problems through the use of blockchain technology.
The aim is to fuel the growth of many Indian blockchain startups and entrepreneurs and encourage the sustainable growth of the blockchain startup ecosystem in India. The investments will include, but not limited to, fiat-to-digital assets gateway solutions, trading platforms, payment, and remittance solutions, digital asset wallets, stablecoins, DeFi platforms, decentralized applications (dApps) and more.
“We started WazirX with the aim to involve everyone into this technology revolution, and the Blockchain for India fund marks a big step in this direction. India has the biggest tech talent pool in the world. With this fund, we want to encourage and enable more and more founders and teams to come in and BUIDL. Apart from funding transformative blockchain projects in India, we look forward to collaborating with other investment funds to grow the ecosystem even further.”
– Nischal Shetty, Founder and CEO of WazirX
Investment / Mentorship
The Blockchain for India fund will make investments in both equity and token, ranging from USD 100,000 to USD 5 million. The fund will also partner with venture funds in India that are actively investing and supporting the blockchain ecosystem. Additionally, the initiative will provide mentorship and support to universities and student organizations interested in setting up university blockchain technology incubators.
Under the Blockchain for India initiative, the selected startup founders and teams will get direct access to Binance’s global blockchain ecosystem comprising of Binance Chain, Binance Cloud, Binance DEX, Binance Launchpad, Binance Research, Binance Academy, Binance X and Binance portfolio companies, such as WazirX, DappReview, Trust Wallet and more. They will not only benefit from knowledge and resource sharing but also receive direct mentorship from other founders and leaders within Binance.
Projects interested in inquiring about, and applying to the fund, are welcome to write to helloIndia@binance.com with your project information and business presentation.