Golden Equator Group, a Singapore investment holding group, announced Friday that it has partnered with Cordell Broadus – a leading investor and thought leader in the Web3 space, also known for his Bored Ape NFT Champ Medici – to set up a Web3 fund.

The partnership cements their shared vision that Web3 is a mega trend and a foundation for future innovations, Golden Equator said in a statement.

Named Welcome To The Block (WTTB), the fund targets to raise $40 million to $50 million to invest in early-stage, innovative and unique businesses in the blockchain and Web3 space that are scalable, financially viable, and have high growth potential under strong founding teams.

The key investment areas will be Centralised Finance (CeFi), Decentralised Finance (DeFi), and Web3 Infrastructure.

Through this fund and its businesses, Golden Equator hopes to establish mainstream adoption of blockchain technology and distributed systems as well as elevate understanding of sound tokenomics and benefits of fractionalisation.

This includes investing in innovations that reinforce mainstream adoption e.g., non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in media and entertainment sectors across music, film, gaming and sports. The Group also hopes to create learning opportunities to drive understanding of Web3 concepts through its businesses including its personal finance education platform The Simple Sum, its NextGen and Entrepreneurship learning programmes and its business community app Swish.

“We have been leveraging our businesses to build enabling ecosystems in the areas of entrepreneurship, tech and innovation and family office, and now we’re doing so with Web3,” said Shirley Crystal Chua, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Golden Equator.

According to her, the new technologies and innovations based on Web3 have the potential to offer society a financial world which is more inclusive, equitable and accountable – increasing efficiency, liquidity and more importantly, better support young people.

“As a young Web3 entrepreneur, Cordell is a partner who embodies the opportunity Web3 can offer and relates to the people we wish to empower, inspire, and educate to help elevate understanding and adoption of Web3 applications,” she added.

According to the statement, the WTTB fund will invest in three ways: venture-style equity investments into Web3 businesses; investing in pre-listing tokens of Web3 projects; Investing in listed tokens with high liquidity.

With Shirley and Cordell as Co-Founding Partners, the Fund will also tap into the networks and expertise of prominent figures and thought leaders in the Web3 space including Shiv Jain, Amador Nazarov, Russell Simmons and Snoop Dogg, who is Cordell’s father.

“I am excited to partner with Golden Equator in empowering and expanding the Web3 community in Asia while building a connection bridge to the community back in the West,

“Singapore is central to facilitating Web3 growth in this region, and with the fund, we will be able to amplify the growth of founders in this space to push forward our combined future in Web3,” said Cordell Broadus, the owner of Bored Ape NFT Champ Medici.

According to the statement, the fund will only be offered to a select group of Accredited Investors who bring value to the ecosystem and with interest in the media and entertainment sector.

The partnership between Golden Equator and Cordell Broadus was facilitated by Gushcloud International, a global tech-driven digital talent and media company.

Althea Lim, Co-Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Gushcloud International, will also join the bench of leaders that will be part of the fund ecosystem.

“We are excited to be part of the launch of Welcome to the Block. The combined expertise of Golden Equator and Cordell Broadus is key to ensure that the fund raises the money needed to invest in worthwhile businesses in the blockchain and Web3 spaces,

“Gushcloud is all about supporting talents to grow and have sustainable careers. In a lot of ways, this fund aims to do the same but to businesses—that is to help them grow, scale up, and make a mark in Web3,” said Lim.

According to the statement, the fund brings together experienced finance professionals coupled with Web3 crypto natives, leveraging Golden
Equator’s financial discipline and experience as an asset manager and Cordell’s deep industry connections to obtain first access to deals in the Web3 space, along with Gushcloud’s extensive global network.

The fund will be managed under Golden Equator Capital Pte Ltd, which holds a capital markets services licence for the regulated activity of Fund Management issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The fund is slated to be launched by the end of this year.

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