Top3 Web3 Products of the Week #9

Welcome to edition #9 of the StartUpRoundUp (Web3 w/ TokenTag)!

Midjourney AI prompt: "futuristic city built on blockchain"

Over the past few weeks, I've had the honor of meeting several talented Web3 founders (and investors) building blockchain-based startup companies and products that will drive the future of the economy. Many of them are currently raising.

I've built a shortlist of the top opportunities I'm seeing for interested investors, angels, and strategics who'd like to support or collaborate. Please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] for access.

I also released our Q1 2023 Update for a new platform we're developing: @NFTPrintPro, the first NFT-powered marketplace for authenticated merchandise. New users on the platform can get exclusive discounts on the first prints of their NFT by scheduling a call with me for a live walkthrough:

Also, check out our full demo on YouTube. Any feedback is much appreciated.

This month, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the most active startup and crypto investors in the world, released their State of Crypto 2023 report. According to a16z, despite recent setbacks, "new builders are entering web3 at record pace. Academic research is accelerating. Ambitious products are launching regularly. Key infrastructure is improving."

Most recently, Ethereum's successful transition to proof-of-stake has been a positive tailwind for the community. Since the new protocol now runs on less energy than most infrastructure, and investors are receiving increased liquidity and future interest in the form of staking rewards on Ethereum, a large amount of new investment and interest has found its way into the ecosystem.

I've included some of my favorite slides from a16z's report below:

I also read this very useful 176-page report on blockchain use cases below. I'd recommend exploring and thinking about how blockchain can transform many sectors of our global economy. There may be use cases you can leverage for your business.

Finally, 3Beat wrote a very insightful report on how AI is transforming the creative landscape and Web3. Highly recommended:

Please check our Crypto News of the Week summary at the end of this week's edition by our friends at The Crypto Explorer!

Now, let's get started with this week's Top3 Web3 Products!

Community Spotlight: Afropolitan

This week's community spotlight is Afropolitan, a Digital Nation to enable all Africans to build abundant lives.

Afropolitan is building a network comprising the best that Africa and the diaspora offer across art, finance, tech, health, energy, sports, and media.

Currently, Africa has more crypto users than North America or Europe, and 6 of the top 20 countries in the world for crypto are in Africa.

In the past, the Afropolitan platform has hosted Vitalik Buterin (founder of Ethereum) in Ghana, and also counts Balaji Srinivasan (former CTO of Coinbase) as an investor.

Relevant Articles:

• Afropolitan Raises $2.1M to Bring Web3 to the African Diaspora

• Afropolitan raises millions from Balaji Srinivasan and others to build a digital nation

ThirdWeb

The complete web3 development framework.

Industry: Developer Tools, Blockchain Infrastructure, Blockchain Gaming, Decentralized Applications (dApps)

ThirdWeb is an end-to-end developer tool accelerating teams building web3 apps, games, tokens, NFTs, marketplaces, DAOs, and more.

It provides powerful SDKs for developers and enables them to build web3 apps, and deploy custom or pre-built smart contracts.

Founded in: 2020

Relevant News:

• Thirdweb raises $24M at a $160M valuation from Haun Ventures, Shopify and Coinbase for its web3 development kit

FloorApp

Discover, Explore, and Track NFTs.

Industry: NFT, Data Analytics, Financial Technology

Floor is an app that aims to make non-fungible tokens (NFT) more accessible and understandable.

Floor offers NFT portfolio tracking, real-time price alerts, live activity for collections and multi-wallet support. Upcoming features include the ability to create an NFT watch list and estimated values to help guide buying and selling decisions

Founded in: 2021

Relevant News:

• NFT App Floor Closes $8M Series A Led By Mike Dudas' VC Firm

• Floor Acquires WGMI for NFT App Extension

Islands

Building the Community Economy.

Industry: Decentralized Applications (dApp), Social Networking

Islands is building a platform that can onboard newcomers into the world of NFT art and crypto assets and communities, while simultaneously improving the experience of the initiated looking to display their digital wallets, trade assets, and communicate asynchronously.

Islands is developing a comprehensive platform for NFT communities.

Founded in: 2017

Relevant News:

• Alexis Ohanian Invests in 25-Year-Old Entrepreneur Tiffany Zhong's NFT Startup 'Islands'

• Web3 Startup Islands Launches With $3.5M to Help Creators Build Their Own NFT Communities

Crypto News of the Week

Summary by The Crypto Explorer

• 😡 US Rep Wants Gary Gensler Fired!

• 🥞 Congress Grills Gensler on ETH Status

• 🌎 Coinbase Goes Global: Abu Dhabi, Brazil, and Canada Next!

• 🚨 Tornado Cash Developer Pertsev Set to be Released from Prison!

• 🔐 The European Union (EU) has approved a regulation for crypto assets!

Please feel free to reach out and tell us what you think of these companies!

Thank you, and don't forget to share with your friends & community!

-- Bayo

Chief Creator | NFT Print Pro

Interested Web3 startups can sign-up for a chance to be featured here.

Active Web3 Investors and Founders: Bayo’s EdgeIn Lists