7 investors discuss web3’s present and peer into its future

Welcome to TechCrunch+ Tuesday

Most people have experienced the internet only through Web 2.0. Online applications, the social web and Software as a Service form the fabric of our lives.

Lately, many have championed web3 as the internet’s next phase, but the term encompasses so much territory, conversations can be diffuse and there are valid concerns that its complexity will daunt consumers and regulators.

However, our research indicated that the investment landscape is growing increasingly competitive as venture capitalists become more educated.

To get a clearer sense of where the market is, we reached out to several active investors:

• Lior Messika, founder and managing partner, Eden Block
• Atul Ajoy, partner, Horseshoe Capital
• David Chreng-Messembourg, founding partner, LeadBlock Partners
• Randy Glein, founder/partner, and Sam Shapiro, principal, DFJ Growth
• Mercedes Bent, partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners
• Jai Das, co-founder, president and partner, Sapphire Ventures

To make things as clear as possible, we asked each respondent to share their elevator pitch: how would they describe the technology if they were trying to convince a skeptic to invest?

Starting with the potential consumer appeal of cartoon apes, we tried to find out what attracted them to invest in the semantic web and where they’re currently seeing demand. Notably, several said they started exploring the space after developing an interest in crypto.

In addition to discussing potential use cases for advertising, fintech and enterprise apps, respondents shared advice for web3 founders who are hunting for funding, along with their concerns about factors that could stall its development.

Finally, we asked each respondent: what are the skeptics missing?

“I never met a skeptical investor who actually understood what was going on. If you get it, you’re probably strapped in and ready to go,” said Lior Messika, founder and managing partner, Eden Block.

Thanks for reading,

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist

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