​A16z is monopolizing Web3, Sequoia Capital is catching up, but the Web3 revolution must be in China!

Since Facebook changed its name to Meta, the word metaverse has been unparalleled for a while, and it has also determined the next development direction for the Internet. When people are studying how to achieve the metaverse vision, the concept of Web3 has been brought up again. Its main direction is to use the decentralized and non-homogeneous tokens of the blockchain, combined with DeFi and other fields, to construct applications that satisfy users. Web3 aims to subvert the Web2 era represented by traditional centralization, not only becoming more and more popular, but also attracting more participants into the Web3 wave.

A16z is one of the most influential funds in the field of encryption venture capital. In the Web2 era, it has invested in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Airbnb, Github and other platforms. In the Web3 era, it has its own investment logic.

Introduce a16z investment logic

At the beginning of this year, a16z revealed that it will launch a $4.5 billion encryption fund, which will participate in investing in startups at every stage of Web3. At the same time, he said that investment in Web3 will include Web3 games, DeFi, decentralized social media, Layer1&Layer2 infrastructure, bridges, DAO, NFT, creator economy, renewable finance, ZK proof, decentralized content and story creation, and Many other fields and more.

According to reports, the total size of the cryptocurrency fund led by the company has exceeded US$7.6 billion, making it the largest fund of its kind. A16z stated that the decision to go all-in on Web3 is based on the fact that we are entering the golden age of the next iteration of the Internet, the advancement of programmable blockchains, which has enabled various applications to already have tens of millions of users.

In response to this bear market, the process of Web3 has been slowed down. The partner of A16z said that the bear market is often the time when the best opportunities appear. In the bear market, people can focus on building technology without being disturbed by short-term price fluctuations. Although our investment pace has been very fast, we continue to only Invest in top founders.

Which Web3 companies does a16z invest in?

According to public information statistics, a16z has invested in more than 90 companies or projects in the Web3 field, including public chains, Layer2, DeFi, NFT, Web3 games, Metaverse, and almost all Web3 tracks. The following Foresight is logged out based on public information statistics.

After sorting out, it was found that since the beginning of the year, a16z has invested in 32 Web3 projects, and invested in two Web3 company live projects for nearly a week, including popular tracks such as social media, NFT, Web3 games, and infrastructure. Of these projects, 26 were led by a16z. At the same time, a16z also participated in the ecological construction funds of Flow and Nym.

It is worth noting that a16z has also co-led investment projects with other well-known investment institutions including FTX, Paradigm, and Softbank: such as co-leading investment in Web3 interactive media Metatheory with FTX and Pantera, co-leading investment in Lightspark with Paradigm, and co-leading investment with SoftBank Lianyou M², co-lead investment in distributed wireless communication company Helium with TigerGLobal, and co-lead investment in LayerZeroLabs with FTX and Sequoia Capital.

Sequoia Capital's investment in the Web3 field

As mentioned above, a16z has participated in major Web3 projects with many well-known investment institutions, among which Sequoia Capital has to be mentioned. Since Shen Nanpeng, the global executive partner of Sequoia Capital, shouted: Allincrypto (encryption field)! Their Web3 project makes people feel that Sequoia Capital is in a hurry. Beginning in October last year, various leading investment in Web3 projects, such as Certik, Arrow, etc., and from January to April this year, began to invest in 17 Web3 companies at a rate of one per week.

Think about it carefully, Sequoia Capital’s “anxiety” is not unreasonable. The aura that ruled the Web2 era is gradually being broken by a16z. After all, Sequoia Capital just started investing, and a16z has been in the Web3 field for nearly ten years, and a16z has raised a total of 12.5 billion US dollars in the past three years. No wonder some bigwigs said: "a16z is like a madman. Put a foot in every (Web3) transaction."

Then, whether Sequoia, the overlord who once ruled the Web2 era, can retain its current position after accepting the challenge of the Silicon Valley upstart a16z, or will it be defeated. At present, a16z ranks third in the latest ranking of Silicon Valley's top investment institutions, second only to Sequoia and AccelPartner. Judging from the current situation, if the next Internet outlet is Web3, then a16z has almost no rivals at this moment.

Doubts about Web3

Almost every builder involved in Web3 advocates that Web3 and blockchain technology will bring earth-shaking changes to mankind.

However, what we have seen so far is still all kinds of hype and various tokens running rampant on exchanges. For some people, the application scenarios established on the blockchain will be colorful. When we look at these applications calmly, it seems to be token trading and wealth harvesting. The recent market turmoil has exposed the gap between web3 and the current reality, which makes many Web2 entrepreneurs have doubts and doubts.

In China, our daily life is almost covered by several super applications, and the data concentration of these super applications and the skyrocketing cost of user acquisition have made it difficult for some innovative companies to emerge in the past few years. This is not only detrimental to social development, but also It is to make these super application companies the target of anti-monopoly regulation. For various reasons, many Web2 entrepreneurs have been inspired to start a business based on a decentralized network and use tokens to bundle interests with users.

However, when we look back, most of the existing Web3 applications cannot be popularized and used by users on a large scale. Even in the field of Web3 games, it has not been proved whether users are motivated by game tokens or like games. Even before. For virtual world games such as Sandbox and Decentraland, which have been highly hyped, relevant data shows that as of April this year, the daily active users of these two games are only about 1,000. Compared with web2 games, that is simply not an order of magnitude comparison.

Therefore, it can be judged from this that the current Web3 applications are actually still in the hype stage, which also means that the web3 field is still in its early stages and has great potential for development.

Web3 revolution will happen in China

In China, people have been spreading a concept, that is, the "Internet of Everything", that is, the real economy that integrates Internet applications into real life to promote the development of the Internet of Things. At present, China is already the country with the largest number of IoT devices in the world, such as smartphones, computers, air conditioners, new energy vehicles... Every device can become a Web3 computing "node" through a distributed network.

The most attractive thing about Web3, to put it bluntly, is token rewards. And precisely, this token hinders the path of Web3.0 to change the beautiful vision of mankind. Whether it is the previous Web1, or the gambling, pornography, live broadcast rewards, etc. that appeared in the Web2 era, it arouses human inner desires. The current Web3 not only has financial attributes, but also encryption attributes, which makes people unable to extricate themselves. It's hard to think about what will happen next.

From this point of view, the "non-monetization" of Web3.0 will continue to be implemented in China. It is not difficult to understand why the Chinese government has issued various policies to severely crack down on the issuance and trading of domestic cryptocurrencies, but at the same time encourages the exploration and application of blockchain technology.

If you also think that Web3 is not only tokens, but a collection of connected complex social systems, business and transaction contracts, etc., then you should realize that our Internet of Things is rarely integrated into Web3, so that More application scenarios will be created.

So, do you firmly believe that the Web3 revolution will definitely happen in our country, and it will happen in China in a completely different form like me. It is not a decentralized practice of financial derivatives, but an application of "decentralized" blockchain technology. Finance will play a role in it, but that's not the whole story.

For example, even without the emergence of Web3.0, "X2E", as a Web3 business form, has already appeared in my country. The well-known "ant forest" can actually be understood with Web3. You can get a certain amount of green energy through low-carbon behaviors such as walking, online payment, and online registration to water the saplings. tree. You see, isn't this just Web3.

In fact, the Internet in China and the United States has bifurcated in the Web2 era, moving in two different directions. I believe that in the Web3 era, there will be different results. It has nothing to do with good or bad, or even values.

write at the end

In 1995, a host interviewed Bill Gates, and he asked: "What the hell is this 'Internet'?" But web1.0 made Bill Gates the richest man in the world. In 2000, when you were still asking "Is it reliable to buy things online". However, Alibaba and JD.com have become China's two major e-commerce giants, and their market value is more than that. A few years ago, we still thought that blockchain technology was a scam, and now the blockchain industry has a market value of more than 2 trillion US dollars. Therefore, Web2 to Web3 must be an important trend, and the future will also be the era of Web3.

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