According to CoinDesk, the rapidly expanding TON blockchain, initially developed by messaging app Telegram, is establishing its own venture capital fund. This new entity, TON Ventures, has been spun out from the network's development foundation as an independent, for-profit organization.
TON Ventures was officially announced on Wednesday, with leadership from Ian Wittkopp, the former director of TON Accelerator, and Inal Kardan, the former gaming lead at TON Foundation. The organization has already secured $40 million in funding and aims to invest in early-stage consumer applications within the TON ecosystem that have broad appeal. The fund's investors are primarily individual, private backers who are interested in supporting the long-term growth of the TON ecosystem, according to the founders.
The TON ecosystem has experienced a significant surge in popularity, particularly with web3 games like Hamster Kombat and Notcoin, which have attracted millions of users. These applications are built on The Open Network (TON), a decentralized layer-1 blockchain originally created by Telegram. The project continued independently after Telegram settled a lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2020.
Earlier this year, digital asset investment firm Pantera Capital made its largest investment to date in TON and was reportedly raising funds for a second investment round. Additionally, crypto giant Tether introduced its USDT stablecoin to TON in April to facilitate peer-to-peer payments among Telegram users.
The network's native token, toncoin (TON), has seen a dramatic increase in value, rising 339% over the past year and entering the top 10 largest cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of $16 billion. Ian Wittkopp, managing partner of TON Ventures, stated that TON and Telegram have created a significant shift for web3, and with their extensive experience in the ecosystem, they believe that capital allocation for TON is the most effective leverage point.