How the Krew Accelerator Program Will Support Blockchain Startups in Web3

What Is Happening?

With a $4 million war chest, Krew, a DeFi accelerator nested in the Klaytn ecosystem, is debuting its accelerator program to develop, incubate, and promote DeFi products on the EVM-compatible Klaytn blockchain. This week, the first initiative to join the Krew accelerator, KLAP - Klaytn Lending Application, stepped out of the shadows and quickly found an audience among tens of thousands of people with its launched product for the DeFi industry.

Experienced entrepreneurs and analysts from top venture capital companies have teamed together to start Krew, including Adam Cader, Hugo Campanella, Mark Shim, and Seth Jeong from ROK Capital and DeSpread.

Projects built on Klaytn benefit from Krew's liquidity, marketing help, advice on tokenomics and other crucial parts of successful launch operations goal are to expand the network's user base outside asia. Kakao Corp, the company behind Korea's most popular messaging app, KakaoTalk, is a major investor in Klaytn, which helps the blockchain ecosystem to receive thoughtful advice and expertise.

What is Krew?

Krew is the Klaytn DeFi accelerator, utilising its capabilities to help the Klaytn ecosystem by providing liquidity and knowledge. The company Krew, founded by veterans of Web2, TradFi, and Web3, argues that the crypto network arms race will ultimately choose the victors. Klaytn has a significant advantage because of Kakao's support.

How Is South Korea is Taking the Blockchain Market by Storm and Why We Should Care

Samsung, LG, Klaytn, and Kia Motors, Hyundai are just a few South Korean technological titans that have developed and captured the international markets in recent years. As part of South Korea's plans for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, blockchain usage in business and public life has been steadily increasing across the country. From 2020 through 2024, the Seoul Government plans to devote over $187 million to promoting blockchain-based enterprises in their early stages. Blockchain initiatives will get approximately $40 million in 2020/2021 from the South Korean government.

Increasing support and adoption of a metaverse in South Korea has been a priority for the Klaytn Foundation, an entity created to support the worldwide acceptance and ecosystem maturity of Klaytn and blockchain technology. For example, Klaytn use of layer one blockchain technology in South Korea and worldwide markets is getting popular with more than two million active accounts. Further, using its knowledge to draw a DeFi audience to the blockchain network and tap the America, APAC and Europe region, Krew seeks further to accelerate Klaytn's development in South Korea and abroad with the development of web3 applications that provide services in DeFi, IoT, Big Data and Public Sector industries with practical and commerically viable business.

Krew has received nearly $4M in a pre-seed round, headed by Quantstamp and Ascentive Assets, to advance the Klaytn DeFi ecosystem in South Korea and in international markets. The financing also included participation from prominent investors ROK Capital, Manifold, Krust, and Novis, who want to promote the development of web3 applications in the international and South Korean markets.

South Korea is Placing its Fortunes on the Metaverse

Although it is yet unclear what format the metaverse will take in the next 50 years, South Korea is placing its bets on the budding sector as the next big phenomenon. The Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technologies intends to jumpstart the metaverse sector in South Korea by supporting businesses and generating employment as part of its Digital Innovative Deal, a programme for investing in new technologies in the nation's economy.

The initiative, which Lim Hyesook, minister of science and information technology, called "an unexplored digital continent with boundless potential," has received 223.7 billion won from the government.

Seoul's metropolitan government is building a 3.9 billion won metaverse platform to allow citizens to access government services online. The terminology "metaverse," which has been more popular recently, refers to new technologies like virtual reality and the idea that people would interact with and live in such worlds. Since Facebook changed its name to Meta and promised to create a future centred on the metaverse, it has been heralded as the emerging leader in technical services. The government intends to generate almost 2 million new employment by investing $8.7 billion in a range of ventures, including artificial intelligence, 6G, blockchain, big data and the metaverse.

Final Thoughts on Krew Accelerator Impact on DeFi and South Korea

Accelerators assist startups and the economy by disrupting the traditional markets and increasing employment in society. Founders get a lot of help and support from Accelerators that assist the startups in developing commercially viable solutions. In my opinion, the South Korean government is working hard to develop the technology and market for the metaverse, while other governments are taking a few dips into the ocean. The South Korean government's stance is to make South Korea the hub of blockchain in the Asian markets.

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Image credits: Bundo Kim, Louie Nicolo Nimor, and Alexander Popov.