Dear Friends and Family,

It's European Football Championship time!

Indigenous tribes from all over Europe are flocking to Germany, dressed in their most colorful gear, playing bagpipes and drums, and showcasing their traditions.

It sometimes feels like the gladiator games in the Colosseum—designed to distract the crowds from their everyday problems.

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Panem et circensis always works.

But it is hardly possible not to get swept up in the fantastic mood and cheerfulness when tens of thousands of fans converge in Frankfurt, Berlin, or Munich, singing their anthems and peacefully bantering about the opposing teams.

Gooooaaaallll!

Team Blockchain Founders Capital scored three goals in the last two weeks, and we're cheering for our founders as they find and validate their product-market fit, step by step.

OpenQ

In Berlin, we invested in OpenQ, founded by Riccardo Lamanna and Andrew O'Brien, joining Speedinvest (A) and Kraken Ventures (USA).

OpenQ provides a cleverly designed (and, of course, AI-enhanced) Developer Relationship Management (DRM) platform that transforms how companies interact with their developer communities.

If you've seen how Apple (WWDC), Google (Google I/O), Microsoft (Microsoft Build), and all blockchains compete for developer attention, you know how crucial it is for a technology platform to manage relationships with developers actively.

OpenQ is the tool that makes this process much more efficient.

River

And in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, we invested in River, founded by Rae Lambert, Ryan Lambert, and Berni Kobos, in partnership with great co-investors.

River is an operating system for community building.

No disrespect intended, but we believe that if the Catholic Church were founded today, it would choose River as its IT platform to orchestrate its global fan base.

River started with prominent clients such as Jason Calacanis (All-In Podcast), Bryan Johnson (Don't Die), and Balaji Srinivasan (The Network State), quickly becoming an insider tip in the tech community.

Now, they aim to showcase their community-building magic to global brands and influencers.

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Fun fact: River is our third investment involving a married couple working together in a startup (the other two are The Last Gameboard and Novum, formerly AdHash).

If we count significant others, we can even add KINO as number four.

And out of our thirteen investments, we now have five with female CEOs or co-founders.

One wouldn’t describe us as supporters of prescribed diversity quotas (that is four men talking), but we've noticed that women-led startups often have an edge. What’s not to like?

In case you're counting, the third deal is still under wraps and will be announced in one week from now.

And you guessed it, it involves another company with great founders and co-investors, this time from Austria.

The hockey stick is real

After many months of testing, failing, and iterating, our other Austrian portfolio company Talentir has become the most anticipated Web3 creative project of 2024.

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It's such an incredible feeling to see new ideas and great technology coming to life, driven by founders like Lukas Steiner and Johannes Kares.

Their use case and mastery of blockchain technology is nothing but ingenious.

We all know that the road is long and many things can happen along the way, but we should also celebrate successes when they happen.

Chapeau to the Talentir team for reaching this amazing milestone!

Meet the team at EthCC Brussels - July 9

Meet my partner colleagues Sagar, Ben, and Marcello in Brussels!

With our friends from bitsCrunch, we are hosting an invite-only brunch during the EthCC convention on July 9.

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If you happen to attend, and would like to meet the team to talk about becoming an investor in our fund, getting venture funding or compare notes with fellow VCs from around the world, register here.

Recommended

I am not a Tucker Carlson enthusiast, but it is important to listen to voices outside of your bubble, and his interview with Pavel Durov, the co-founder of Telegram (together with his brother), is good journalism.

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Pavel and his team had to flee their native Russia rather than give up their principles. After a world-wide scouting process for the best location of their company, they settled in the UAE.

Interestingly, they almost ended up in Berlin but didn't feel like succumbing to back-door requests by Western secret services.

Today, Telegram has 900+ million users and recently added an incredibly easy-to-use crypto wallet.

The Telegram wallet will make millions of users experiment with crypto for the first time. It almost feels like a small Apple moment for mass adoption.

99% of blockchain projects are a tech idea trying to create a community.

Telegram is a community integrating blockchain technology. Sounds to me like the better approach.

Pantera's excellent article explains why they are doubling down on the Telegram token (TON).

Join our stellar investors

Join us in shaping the future of Web3 technology and become an investor in our fund.

We invest at an early stage worldwide in exceptionally talented and mission-driven founders (like the ones above) whose business models will take a giant leap forward through blockchain technology.

If you want to know more, reply to this email (which is sent from my personal email account) and meet us in person.

Keep the ball rolling, and may your favorite team win!

Wolfgang with Ben, Marcel, and Sagar