Mirroring the practices of traditional Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Pi Foundation, a community of 10s of millions of people mining Pi cryptocurrency to use and build the Web app ecosystem, has launched a new $100million investment initiative called Pi Ventures.
The initiative will identify and support high-impact and disruptive startups and businesses by taking a Silicon Valley venture capital firm-esc approach in sourcing, selection, vetting and more. Pi Ventures expects to invest in companies ranging from early-stage startups to Series B+ enterprises and beyond, providing both capital and strategic value over a broader time frame to those believed to be best positioned to create value in the world and help provide additional ways to use Pi worldwide.
Pi Ventures will invest in and accelerate quality startups that drive real-world adoption, utility, and integration of the Pi cryptocurrency. Created to invest in transformative ventures across sectors, Pi Ventures is not restricting itself to solely Web3 projects. It embraces a broader and more inclusive perspective and is planning to support native blockchain, generative AI, gaming platforms, fintech, e-commerce, embedded payments, marketplaces, and social network startups.
“Pi Ventures will not just benefit the Pioneers who have been part of Pi’s six-year journey, but also play a big part in integrating Pi’s Web3 ecosystem with the real world,” shared Nicolas Kokkalis, one of the two Pi founders.
Benefits for investors and community
Two essential problems facing startups are funds and access to market – through Pi Ventures, investors will receive both of these. Portfolio companies will have a chance to access a sizable, active, and KYC-verified user base with tens of millions of users of Pi Network across more than 200 countries and regions, with over 19 million of them already having their identity verified through Pi KYC.
For Pi’s vast Pioneer community, benefits include increased utility with additional ways to use Pi, a stronger ecosystem with new use cases and businesses, and an increased scale through strategic investments that incentivise high-quality integrations.
This initiative is more than financial—it’s strategic. Pi Ventures is designed to:
- Boost Pi’s utility by enabling companies to accept or integrate Pi into services, products, and transactions;
- Enable real-world production utilising Pi by backing ventures early on that operationalize Pi into their workflows; and
- Empower mass adoption of Pi’s utility features and blockchain technology in the real world by showcasing tangible, impactful use cases across industries.
Pi Ventures follows the recent launch of Pi’s Open Network, marking a new era of decentralised growth. Now, with the backing of Pi Ventures, startups, including those that are building within or integrating with the Pi ecosystem, will have the opportunity to thrive while supporting Pi’s global utility.
