YZi Labs, formerly Binance Labs, has introduced a billion-dollar fund for projects building on the BNB chain.
The investment firm, which was rebranded as the venture capital arm of crypto exchange Binance last year, is targeting BNB-based projects in areas including trading, real-world assets (RWA), artificial intelligence (AI), decentralized finance (DeFi), and wallets, according to an announcement on X on Wednesday.
YZI Labs said it wants the BNB ecosystem to form the backbone of “democratized access and ownership, AI to enhance human potential, and biotechnology to improve quality of life.”
“Through this $1 billion BNB Builder Fund, YZi Labs is committed to supporting BNB builders in industries such as DeFi, AI, RWA, DeSci, and more. – those who build the next generation of open systems that connect technology with human progress,” said Ella Zhang, head of YZi Labs.
After Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao was released from prison last year, he took a more active role in the company’s venture capital arm, renamed YZi Labs, to target Web3, AI and biotech startups.
YZI Labs is actually often referred to as Zhao’s family office – the name for an investment vehicle that manages the wealth of a single family. The company says, however, that its structure is different from a traditional family office because it does not get involved in estate planning, tax structuring, etc.
