Pfizer Venture Investments is a corporate venture capital firm that invests in areas of current or future strategic interest to Pfizer. It aims to remain at the forefront of life science advances. It identifies and invests in emerging companies that are developing transformative medicines and technologies that have the potential to enhance Pfizer’s pipeline and shape the future of its industry.

Pfizer Venture Investments

Our thesis is that the blockchain industry will disrupt entire industries. The huge influx of talent and capital leads to rapid innovation, with impressive start-up teams racing to build the most secure, decentralized and scalable Layer1 protocols, as well as developing dApps reaching mass adoption. With the regulatory side and infrastructure improving, institutional investors are moving into the new asset class. There are in excess of 700 funds active in the space today, with strategies reaching from SAFTs and pre-ICOs to fundamental long-only, long/short trading, trend-following, arbitrage, and market-making. We want to provide investors with access to this new asset class, by - sourcing the best crypto and blockchain funds globally - diversifying across strategies, geographies and managers - providing institutional quality structuring, due diligence and monitoring.

Shine is a venture capital firm that partners with relentless, creative, convincing entrepreneurs from the earliest stages of company building.

Shine Capital

Spaceship is a global group of crypto natives, founders, builders, and investors. We aim to invest in, support, and $FUEL blockchain start-ups, emerging crypto networks, and decentralized communities.

Spaceship

Beaker DAO is a group that promotes the growth of decentralised science. The DAO aims to promote open accessibility and decentralised market liquidity across the DeSci space by funding research and managing intellectual property.

Beaker DAO

VitaDAO

Artificial intelligence is identifying and testing new therapies faster than ever.

AI Drug Discovery

<div>
 
 Singapore-based Gero is a biotech company that provides therapeutics against chronic diseases. The company leverages AI to explore drug discovery and digital biomarkers. The company leverages whole-exome sequencing data for in-human AI drug discovery, while GeroSense, a product arm, creates digital biomarkers to monitor health and disease progression. Based on models originating from the physics of complex dynamic systems, Gero combines deep neural networks with physical models to study dynamical processes and understand disease drivers.
 
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 
 
 In January 2023, Gero entered a research collaboration with 
 <a href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/longevity-biotech-gero-entered-research-collaboration">
 Pfizer
 </a>
 to apply Gero&rsquo;s machine-learning technology platform to explore potential therapeutic targets for fibrotic diseases using large-scale human-based data. In August 2023, the company partnered with 
 <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230807313578/en/Longevity-Biotech-Companies-GERO-and-FOXO-Technologies%E2%84%A2-to-Embark-on-Joint-Initiative-on-Artificial-Intelligence-and-Epigenetic-Data-to-Discover-Signatures-of-Human-Health-Trajectories">
 FOXO
 </a>
 to develop an AI-driven personalized wellness and longevity recommendation engine based on proprietary epigenetic data.
 
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 
 
 In October 2023, the company raised USD 6 million in an extended 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22892">
 Series A
 </a>
 round led by Melnichek Investments. The funds were earmarked to accelerate Gero's progress in developing therapies targeting aging and age-related diseases to further develop its platform technology and expand its operation in the US. 
 
</div>

Longevity Tech

Gero is a biotech company that provides therapeutics against chronic diseases. It produces GeroSense, a tool for measuring biological age based on smartphone and wearable data. GERO.AI leverages whole-exome sequencing data for in-human AI drug discovery, while GeroSense createsdigital biomarkers. GeroSense predicts health scores based on a proportional hazards model trained to rank morbidity risks. ROC AUC validation test reportedly shows the ability of GeroSense to rank morbidity and mortality outcomes in follow-up data. GeroSense system is a deep artificial neural network that extracts health-associated features from the physical activity recordings. The encoder takes the input in the form of a series of step count per-minute measurements for at least as long as one week and compresses the signal into four-dimensional representations (embeddings). During the training and test procedure of Gerosense, the company claims to have used one week-long samples of steps per-minute recordings for 97,320 UK Biobank and 6,510 NHANES participants, along with recordings samples from longitudinal data obtained for 1,876 smartphone and 723 smartwatch users and were able to produce the most common features present in the motion data. Gero is funded by AI companies, including AIMATTER founders (recently acquired by Google). In 2019, Gero was also named one of the leading companies in AI for lifespan extension, along with Google and IBM. Key customers and partnerships Gero entered a research collaboration with global pharmaceutical company Pfizer in January 2023 to apply Gero’s machine-learning technology platform to explore potential therapeutic targets for fibrotic diseases using large-scale human-based data. Pfizer was likely to advance the potential therapeutic targets and be responsible for further preclinical and clinical development. In August 2023, the company partnered with FOXO, an entity focused on epigenetic biomarker discovery and commercialization. Discussions commenced to form a strategic collaboration between the two companies to develop an AI-driven personalized wellness and longevity recommendation engine based on proprietary epigenetic data. Funding and financials In October 2023, Gero raised USD 6 million in an extended Series A round led by Melnichek Investments. The funds were to be used to accelerate Gero's progress in developing therapies targeting aging and age-related diseases and the development of its platform technology. The funds were also meant to grow the company’s scientific team and expand its operations in the US.

ImmuneAGE Bio is an intriguing initiative focused on drug discovery for immune system rejuvenation. Developing therapies that can rejuvenate or enhance the immune system could have profound implications for healthcare, especially in aging populations or those with compromised immune function

GERO is an AI Drug Discovery company created to solve chronic diseases

VitaDAO is a decentralized collective funding early stage longevity research Our mission is to extend human lifespan by researching, financing, and commercializing longevity therapeutics in an open and democratic manner. VitaDAO and its members are committed to nurturing and developing the intellectual property, licenses, and data sets that result from the projects it supports. Members can join VitaDAO by purchasing VITA tokens or earning them through contributions of work or Intellectual Property.

VitaDAO is a decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) collective for community-governed and decentralized drug development. It aims to acquire, support, and finance new therapeutics and research data in the longevity space.

A decentralized version of the web powered by the blockchain

Web3 Ecosystem

VitaDAO and GlycanAge Host Pioneering Longevity & Crypto Day in Abu Dhabi

ImmuneAGE Bio

1517 Fund

Emerging Longevity Ventures

Healthspan Capital

Infinita Fund

Gero

Melnichek Investments

Platforms and tools that collect and analyze patient data to detect, prevent, and monitor age-related damage

VitaDAO is a decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) collective for community-governed and decentralized drug development. It aims to acquire, support, and finance new therapeutics and research data in the longevity space.The public can join VitaDAO and govern its IP through <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19846">VITA-FAST </a>tokens by contributing funds, work, research data, or IP assets. VITA-FAST tokens enable their holder to engage in decision-making and governance of VitaDAO’s research, signal support for specific initiatives, and govern its data repositories and IP portfolio.Key customers and partnershipsAs of June 2023, VitaDAO had a community of over 9,000 researchers and contributors, and had distributed more than USD 4 million in funding to over 17 longevity-based research projects.Funding and financialsIt raised USD 4.1 million in a strategic funding round in January 2023, which saw participation from Pfizer Ventures, Shine Capital, and L1 Digital among others. The fresh funds were geared towards investing in longevity research projects, precede the spinout of VitaDAO’s first biotech startups scheduled in Q1 2023, and commercialize and license its IP-NFT assets through its partnership with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/789559">Molecule DAO </a>.

NEAR Protocol is an open-source layer-1 blockchain launched in October 2020. The blockchain uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism to validate transactions. Its native token is NEAR, which can be used to pay for transactions and storage on the blockchain, while also allowing token holders to participate in the platform’s governance process. In August 2024, NEAR launched a significant upgrade called "<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32890">Nightshade 2.0</a>" to enhance scalability and usability. This update is a major step in integrating sharding into NEAR's core architecture, which divides the blockchain into smaller segments, allowing the network to process more transactions at a lower cost. Validators no longer need to store shard states locally; instead, they retrieve "state witnesses" from the network to validate changes. This improves shard performance and boosts the network’s ability to support more shards.NEAR allows users to sign up for a wallet (account) using unique human-readable names (e.g., johndoe.near, in comparison to cryptographic and randomly generated private keys, which is a characteristic of chains such as Ethereum), which in turn enables easy sign-ins for dApps for users and improves the overall usability of the blockchain. The platform also allows developers to prepay gas fees for first-time users, allowing the latter to interact with a dApp for free. NEAR also offers the Rainbow Bridge, which allows users to transfer ERC-20 and NEAR tokens or any other digital asset between the Ethereum and NEAR blockchain. In addition, the platform provides tools such as SDKs, CLIs, and APIs for developers to create dApps on its blockchain. In addition, NEAR allocates 30% of the transaction fees to developers to encourage them to build applications on its platform, with the remainder being burnt.The protocol also incorporates <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32771">Chain Signatures</a>, a technology that allows smart contracts to sign transactions across multiple blockchains without relying on cross-chain bridges. This aims to simplify multichain dApp development by reducing the need for multiple wallets and manual bridging, as well as enhancing user experience and increasing asset liquidity and utility across blockchains.As of July 2022, NEAR had 100 validators on its blockchain, which it expected to increase in proportion to the number of transactions. The platform uses an auction system to select and determine the seat price for its validators every epoch (time interval of 12 hours). The platform claims to be able to scale infinitely by adding more validators owing to its underlying architecture.Key customers and partnershipsIn June 2021, NEAR joined ICON’s Blockchain Transmission Protocol (BTP), which seeks to improve cross-chain communication. The partnership allowed data to be transferred between the NEAR blockchain and other BTP partners such as Polkadot and Harmon. Moreover, NEAR partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23393">Nym Technologies </a>to integrate end-to-end encryption and privacy safeguards into the NEAR blockchain ecosystem.In addition, NEAR partnered with Ardana, a stablecoin and decentralized exchange (DEX) liquidity pool built on the Cardano blockchain in November 2021, to build a bridge to support integrations and token transfers between the NEAR and Cardano blockchains. It had also planned to enable cross-chain smart contract functionality and allow the NEAR token to be used as collateral on Ardana to mint stablecoins in the future.

NEAR

Ava Labs develops the open-source layer-1 blockchain, Avalanche. The Avalanche network architecture contains three separate blockchains in order to address the decentralization, security, and scalability limitations of blockchains. These include 1) the Exchange Chain (X-Chain), which is the default blockchain on which assets are created and exchanged and also includes Avalanche’s native token–AVAX; 2) the Contract Chain (C-Chain)—which is based on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)—allows for the creation and execution of smart contracts with cross-chain interoperability; and 3) the Platform Chain (P-Chain), which coordinates validators and enables the creation and management of subnets (a sovereign network that defines its own rules for membership and tokenomic). Avalanche uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and is able to execute 4,500 transactions per second. As of December 2022, ~1,000 projects were built on Avalanche, including DeFi projects like Tether, SushiSwap, Chainlink, and Circle. As of the same date, the network processed on average two million daily transactions and was secured by more than 1,200 validators.Ava Labs launched Core, a dedicated non-custodial crypto wallet for AVAX as a browser extension, through which users are able to browse dApps on the Avalanche blockchain. In April 2023, the company announced plans to launch “ <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17583">Evergreen Subnets </a>,” a suite of blockchain deployments, tooling, and customization services specifically designed for financial institutions to run their own private, permissioned chains with approved parties. In addition, financial institutions will be able to communicate and transfer data with other subnets through Avalanche’s native communication protocol Avalanche Warp Messaging (AWM) without relying on any third parties. It also launched <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18842">AvaCloud </a>in May 2023, a no-code Web3 launchpad that assists businesses in building fully managed blockchain ecosystems. AvaCloud consists of four main components: an automated blockchain builder, managed validators, comprehensive data tools, and chain interoperability within Avalanche subnets.Key customers and partnershipAvalanche has partnered with several cloud services providers to improve its network such as <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15079">Alibaba Cloud </a>(December 2022) to improve its infrastructure and support for its validators. Users of the Avalanche blockchain can launch new validator nodes using Alibaba Cloud’s plug-and-play infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), while dApp developers can use the latter’s storage and computing resources for the efficient running of their dApps. It also collaborated with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15640?industryIds=144">AWS </a>(January 2022) to scale and improve blockchain adoption and support its dApp ecosystem, while also enabling one-click node deployments through the AWS marketplace.

Ava Labs

Based in Australia, Immutable is a developer of blockchain-based video games and a provider of a Web3 game development platform. The company develops and publishes its games through Immutable Game Studio, and released its first game, Gods Unchained, in March 2021. The game is a NFT strategy card game, and had ~80,000 active players as of January 2022. It also claimed that over USD 25 million of Gods Unchained digital assets have been traded as of the same date. In February 2024, the company launched the mobile version of Gods Unchained, available on Google Play and Apple App Store. Immutable launched its second game, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29491">Guild of Guardians </a>, in May 2024 to over 1 million pre-registered users. It is a mobile role-playing game set in a fantasy world on the brink of destruction, where players must form teams to battle against evil Dreads.Its Web3 game development platform, Immutable X, provides a SDK that offers APIs and smart contracts to allow developers to leverage ready-made Web3 infrastructure to quickly build and deploy blockchain-based games. These include an onboarding solution (non-custodial wallet) called <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16041">Passport </a>, transaction infrastructure, and NFT minting tools. The platform also consists of a developer hub which allows developers to launch and manage their projects in one-place and obtain related performance analytics.In addition, Immutable X also acts as a layer-2 scaling solution on the Ethereum blockchain. It uses <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/607497">StarkWare's </a>StarkEx roll-up technology and can process 9,000 transactions per second, with zero gas fees, while claiming to be carbon-neutral. Its native token IMX can be used to pay for transactions as well as stake and govern the network. Notable companies building on Immutable X include GameStop, TikTok, OpenSea, Ember Sword, Illuvium, GreenPark Sports, and Vee Friends (Gary Vee).Key customers and partnershipsImmutable partnered with Mineloader to develop Guild of Guardians, and it has also collaborated with several game developers, including Turner Sports and Kongregate, to build Web3 games on the Immutable X platform. Furthermore, Immutable partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22566">Amazon Web Services (AWS)</a> to develop infrastructure solutions to assist companies in developing and scaling blockchain-based games, and <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24637">Amazon Prime Gaming</a> to list in-game content for Gods Unchained in the latter’s platform. This partnership also aimed to introduce the game to a broader audience circle through Amazon's platform, which boasts over 200 million Prime Gaming members. It also collaborated with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25892">Axelar</a> to integrate games built on Immutable's zkEVM into the Axelar network to enhance user onboarding across blockchain.The company collaborated with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/786111">Polygon</a> to launch its <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24881">zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine</a> (zkEVM) scaling solution to bypass the scaling limitations of the Ethereum blockchain and promote Web3 gaming. This network allows developers to completely abstract transaction fees, allowing a frictionless player onboarding and improved user experience.

Immutable

Mythical Games is a video game studio building games based on blockchain technology, playable NFTs, and play-to-earn game economies. The company developed two games—NFL Rivals and Blankos Block Party. The latter was discontinued in December 2023 after its launch in June 2022.In May 2022, NFL and the NFL Players Association partnered with Mythical Games to develop an NFT-based video game NFL Rivals. The game was launched in 2023, with players taking part in arcade-style gameplay, assuming the role of NLF general manager. They can collect and trade players represented as NFTs on the secondary market via the iOS and Android apps, as well as Mythical’s web-based marketplace. In addition, a unique feature of the game is the “squad system,” which enables players to team up with fellow players to compete with others.Mythical Games also enables other game developers and publishers to build or integrate blockchain-based play-to-earn economies into their games through The Mythical Platform. The platform also includes built-in regulatory KYC/AML compliance and indemnity as well as a verified wallet for transacting both real and cryptocurrencies. Further, the company also offers a marketplace that enables users to sell and trade their digital assets.The Mythical Platform is built on an EVM-compatible sidechain Mythical Chain, which uses a proof-of-authority consensus mechanism to validate transactions. The chain also offers interoperability features, allowing players to transfer and trade NFTs across multiple blockchains. It also claims the minting of NFTs and integrating the marketplace over its platform does not require mining.It acquired <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15966">DMarket </a>–a digital gaming asset marketplace–in January 2023, and utilized its technology to launch an improved version of its own marketplace (Mythical Marketplace 2.0), with features such as a blended payment gateway and AML and fraud protection systems.Key customers and partnershipsAs of June 2023, the company reported to have achieved daily gross sales exceeding USD 1 million and gained more than 2.5 million new users over the past year. Moreover, it expects to reach over 20 million player accounts across its entire game portfolio by the end of 2023, primarily propelled by NFL Rivals and the upcoming release of Nitro Nation World Tour.The Mythical Platform’s first developer partners were announced by the company in November 2021, which includes 1) CCG Games to create Epic Spell Wars: Magic Fight, a trading card game; 2) Creative Mobile to create Nitro Nation – World Tour, a racing game; and 3) Abstraction Games to create a new action strategy title. These were slated to be released in 2023.Funding and financialsIn November 2021, Mythical Games raised USD 150 million in a Series C round led by Andreessen Horowitz at a valuation of ~USD 1.3 billion. Additionally, it raised <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19719">USD 37 million in a Series C1 </a>funding round led by Scytale Digital in June 2023, at a similar valuation. This funding round is expected to close later in 2023 and reach USD 57 million-67 million. It had planned to utilize the fresh funds toward initiatives that will drive profitability within the next year and expand its games and infrastructure to reach a larger audience.

Mythical Games

Storj Labs developed the Storj Decentralized Cloud Storage (DCS) network that works by compressing, encrypting, and splitting files into more than 80 smaller pieces to distribute and store them across a global network of individual storage nodes, which are excess hardware space rented out by individuals in return for a fee. Storj audits its network through random file verification every hour, which ensures its files are consistently being hosted by its nodes; it automatically reconstitutes the data when it is required by the user. The company claims to have more than 10,000 active nodes with over 6 petabytes of available storage capacity spread across the world, as of August 2022. It uses its native token STORJ, which is used by customers to pay for providers of decentralized storage.Key customers and partnershipsStorj partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/792614">Matter Lab’s </a>zkSync Era ( <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18986">in May 2023 </a>) to integrate the latter's zero-knowledge roll-up technology into its cloud storage platform to optimize transaction speed, reduce gas fees, and improve the overall efficiency of the payment process. Additionally, the partnership enables EVM-compatible composability for decentralized storage payments, providing customers with increased flexibility and a wider range of customization possibilities. As part of the development, Storj also had plans to develop and maintain two open-source libraries, Crypto-Batch-Payment and Storjscan, which will focus on creating a seamless onboarding experience for its customers on the zkSync Era network.

Storj

Developers of video games that use elements of blockchain technology, allowing gamers to earn cryptocurrency by playing games. They can either convert it into real money or purchase in-game assets.

A decentralized alternative to traditional social networks that operate on independently run servers on the blockchain. These are community-owned and reward user participation.

An alternative storage system in which data is encrypted, segmented, and stored on multiple nodes across the blockchain rather than a single server.

Developers of dApps for use in industries such as travel, health, and fitness, which are yet to reach wider adoption.

Providers of wallets that allow users to purchase and store the cryptocurrencies/tokens required to interact with web3 apps, along with app browsers for users to browse and access dApps.

Also known as layer-1 networks, these include developers of the base blockchain network.

Also known as layer-2 solutions, this includes providers of scaling solutions, such as sidechains, state channels, and rollups, which improve the speed and throughput of transactions occurring in layer-1 blockchain networks.

Platforms that provide tools such as SDKs, blockchain node infrastructure, and bridges for developers to create, host, debug, and add extra functionality to dApps on one or many blockchains.

Includes companies that form the Web3 ecosystem

Web3 is based on blockchain tech, a key enabler of the industry

GenAI tools help develop smart contracts and query the blockchain for data

Providers of node-as-a-service and SDKs to build dApps operate under this model

VitaDAO

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