Uniswap Labs launches venture division arm

Uniswap Labs, the company behind the popular Ethereum-based  decentralized exchange, created a new division - Uniswap Labs Ventures to focus on investing in Web3 projects. 

Strategy lead Matteo Leibowitz will run “Uniswap Labs Ventures,” alongside COO Mary-Catherine Lader,  Leibowitz tweeted.

Uniswap Lab Venture will invest in companies with Web3 projects across various stages and areas, including infrastructure, strategy, partnerships, design and development tools. The size of the fund was not disclosed but according to The Block’s first report, Matteo Leibowitz, head of Uniswap Lab Venture, investments will be made directly from the Uniswap balance sheet. 

Prior to launching its venture arm, Uniswap Labs has invested in 11 crypto projects, including MakerDAO, Aave, Compound Protocol, PartyDAO, LayerZero and Tenderly.

The launch also comes after a class-action lawsuit was filed against Uniswap Labs, its parent company Universal Navigation Inc., and equity owners Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures. The filing alleges that Uniswap Labs was encouraging and engaging in “rampant fraud” on its platform. And that Uniswap users are unaware that the platform was siphoning over $1 billion in transaction fees from its users, so that issuers on the platform can generate “vast profits” in the process. The tokens traded on the exchanges are unregistered securities, according to the lawsuit. It also alleges that Uniswap allows “thousands of scam tokens” linked to “rug pulls,” “pump-and-dump” and other fraudulent activities to take place on its platform.

Uniswap Lab and other exchanges tapping into Web3 and the metaverse

Uniswap Lab Ventures joins the growing trend of crypto-native companies investing in the Web3 spaces other than themselves.

Crypto exchange FTX  launched a US$2 billion venture capital fund and raised $400million to tap into the crypto and web3 space in January. DeFi protocol Cake DeFi created a $100 million venture capital fund to invest in tech startups across Web3, the metaverse, NFTs, esports and gaming platforms.

Photo: Uniswap