Knowledge for Web3 Investors

Updated: 6 days ago

Ireland - Early Stage Startups

1. Pyra: Diego Garcia Co-founder & CEO, Iarla Crewe Co-founder & CTO: https://x.com/GetPyra

2. CryptoCraker: Fran Meggs Co-founder & CEO, Eric Paquin Co-Founder & Head of Product and

Innovation, Mohamed Abboub Co-Founder & CRO: https://crypto-cracker.com/

3. My Start-up: Galin Dimitrov Founder & CEO, Navjot Sign Co-Founder & CMO, Maheshwar Arulraj Co-Founder & Developer: https://mystartup.ai/

4. Mint Yield: Neal Roche Founder & CEO, Valentina Luciana Diaz Estevez CPO:

5. Fehur: Katarzyna Hasnik Founder & CEO, Director of Product UX/UI Design, Varshitha Bezawada Business Analytics & Marketing Specialist, Amit Kumar Business Analytics, Data Science & Software Engineer: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fehurai, https://x.com/fehur_ai, https://x.com/fehur_founder, www.fehur.com

Metric	Fehur Founder & CEO Katarzyna Hasnik	CryptoCracker Founder & CEO Fran Meggs	MyStartup.ai Founder & CEO Galin Dimitrov	Pyra Co-founders CEO Diego Garcia & CTO Iarla Crewe	Mint Yield Founder & CEO Neal Roche
1. Business Model	B2B AI SaaS subscription per employee	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
2. Target Market	HR departments, SMEs, Enterprises	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
3. Problem Solved	Financial education including digital assets, HR, retention, productivity	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
4. Key Features	AI advisors, emotion detection, voice tools, stablecoin	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
5. Revenue Projections (Y5)	$50M–$100M	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
6. Traction	MVP in progress, 57+ on waitlist, 2 pilot clients	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
7. Go-To-Market Strategy	User testing, enterprise outreach, PR, direct sales to SMEs, HR	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
8. Team Highlights	UX, FinTech, AI, Voice, Web3, cybersecurity experts	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
9. Funding Ask / Investment Need	$0.5M–$1M (Y1); Pre-Seed to Series A	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
10. Tech/Innovation Focus	AI voice emotion & assistant, FinTech, blockchain (Solana)	NDA	NDA	NDA	NDA
11. Founder & CEO Sex=Gender	Female	Male	Male	Males	Male
12. Visuals Communication	Consistency across deck, well balanced minimalism	Consistency across deck, balanced, intense colour palette	Consistency across deck, maximalism in graphics, colours etc.	Improve consistency across deck, well balanced minimalism	Consistency across deck, well balanced minimalism

Become Founder with your start-up at Web3 Talents programs, visit: https://web3-talents.io/:

Based on recent industry data, the following firms are the most active and influential in

decentralised ledger technology (DLT) and DeFi:

Paradigm - Over US $10 billion in assets under management focused on crypto and
blockchain, with major bets in Uniswap and Ethereum infrastructure.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto) - A leader in crypto funding, last year launching a
US $4.5 billion crypto‑focused fund.
Blockchain Capital - One of the earliest pure‑play crypto VCs, backing giants like Coinbase,
Ethereum and OpenSea.
Dragonfly Capital - Cross‑Pacific firm with deep roots in DeFi, backing protocols such as
Compound, dYdX and Cosmos.
Coinbase Ventures - The VC arm of Coinbase, heavily invested in open financial infrastructure projects like Compound, Aztec and StarkWare.
Honourable mentions, which also make the DeFi top‑tier list.: Pantera Capital
1kx ConsenSys Labs

a. Token‑based economics

Web3 firms often issue tokens instead of, or alongside, equity. VCs may invest in tokens directly,

which shifts their returns from traditional equity upside to token performance.

b. Technical evaluation

Investors need to assess cryptographic security, decentralised architecture, token‑omics and

smart‑contract audits, specialist due diligence compared to traditional software startups.

c. Liquidity paths

Web3 allows for token listings on exchanges, providing faster, more liquid exit opportunities than the typical merger or IPO route in web2.

d. Regulatory complexity

Web3 investments carry regulatory uncertainty, such as securities classification and

anti‑money‑laundering laws. Investors must navigate varied global frameworks (e.g. EU MiCA).

e. Market sentiment correlation

Funding is closely tied to broader crypto asset cycles. For example, Web3 VC deal counts and

volumes rose 51 per cent from 2023 to 2024 but remain volatile.

Funding scale Web3 VC raised roughly US $9.9 billion to US $11.5 billion in 2024, up from under US $10 billion in 2023.
Growth forecasts Analysts predict investment could nearly double to about US $18 billion in 2025.
Return potential Large token-price cycles fuel outsized returns, e.g. early positions in Uniswap or AAVE delivering higher multiples than typical web2 equity deals.

However:

The industry remains cyclical and exposed to crypto downturns.
Some funds experienced heavy write‑offs during the FTX and Terra‑Luna crashes (e.g. Sequoia’s US $214 million FTX loss).

Conclusion: Web3 VC market is expanding rapidly with strong return potential from token events.

That said, profit volatility is higher than Web2, partly due to token dynamics and crypto market swings.