TON Ventures launched a $40 million fund to support startups in the blockchain ecosystem

What’s new? TON Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by former top managers of the TON Foundation, an non-profit organization that supports the blockchain of the same name, has launched a $40 million fund. The money from it will be used to support early-stage projects in the TON ecosystem.

Source: X.com

What else is known? TON Ventures will focus on consumer apps using Pavel Durov's Telegram messenger. Along with financial support, selected startups will receive access to the “global resources and extensive experience” of the TON Ventures team, advertising on Telegram, media support and access to strategic partnerships.

TON Ventures is led by former TON Accelerator director Ian Wittkopp and ex-head of gamification at TON Foundation Inal Kardan. As stated on the official website, the company is focused on supporting innovative projects based on TON in order to promote the sustainable development of the crypto industry. In particular, the scope of its interests includes supporting the Telegram bot @Wallet, mini-apps and tools for the messenger.

The company has already supported the decentralized exchanges (DEX) Tradoor, Ston.fi, Dedust and Storm Trade, the Evaa Protocol lending protocol, as well as the Gamee gaming platform.

TON Ventures also supports the TON Accelerator, where top projects in the ecosystem receive support for further growth, and a six-week incubation program where top gas pedal participants receive personal mentorship and technical support from the TON Foundation.

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Earlier, Telegram launched an internal Web 3.0 browser with support for decentralized sites based on TON and a store of mini-apps, and venture capital company TOP invested in the Akedo Games studio to support the development of blockchain games in Telegram.

In July, cryptocurrency exchange OKX launched a mini-app on Telegram to earn points by predicting the BTC exchange rate. In August, crypto exchange X10 Exchange announced the launch of a trading mini-app on Telegram for novice retail investors.

The native TON blockchain token called Toncoin (ticker TON) ranks ninth in the overall cryptocurrency ranking by market capitalization with over $17,5 billion and is trading at $6,95, having added 9,9% overnight. The weekly gain was 22,2%, and the asset is up 199,31% year-to-date.

On August 8, TON was listed on Binance, the world's largest exchange. Since then, the asset has added 29%. TON is available for trading on the Binance spot market in pairs with bitcoin, USDT and FDUSD stablecoins, as well as the Turkish lira.