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Steve Yun, a board member of the TON Foundation, announced the establishment of TVM Ventures, a venture capital firm with a $100 million inaugural fund aimed at supporting startups within the TON ecosystem. The fund’s capital was sourced from Yun himself and an undisclosed Toncoin miner.
TVM Ventures, named after the TON Virtual Machine, will primarily invest in decentralized finance (DeFi) and payment finance (PayFi) startups that are building natively on TON or supporting the TON network. Yun, who stepped down as president of the TON Foundation last month, remains actively involved as a board member and is directing TVM Ventures to prioritize the development of an advanced financial system on TON, with the goal of serving 500 million users in the coming years.
Unlike TON Ventures, another VC firm focused on the TON ecosystem, TVM Ventures will concentrate on DeFi and PayFi verticals, with Yun highlighting the importance of building smart contract logic directly on TVM for DeFi projects. PayFi projects, while cross-chain, must fully support the TON network.
TVM Ventures, which commenced operations in November 2024, targets seed-stage investments with valuations between $5 million and $10 million.
The firm takes a leading role in funding, offering check sizes ranging from $500,000 to $1 million. It also provides $5 million in "farming liquidity" to assist protocols in establishing the necessary liquidity for their products. Yun plans to deploy the entire fund within 24 months and has already invested in four TON-based startups, including Factorial, Torch Finance, Fiva, and Memes Lab.
Yun is optimistic about the growth of TON’s ecosystem, particularly with the upcoming launch of the tgBTC bridge and a DeFi incentive initiative by the TON Foundation. He predicts that TON will capture a significant market share of stablecoins and foresees the TON coin’s value potentially rising by 900% in the next bull market cycle.
TVM Ventures, based in Dubai, is expanding its team with researchers specializing in TVM architecture and TON’s smart contract languages.
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