We believe that the shift towards on-chain protocols is the next stage of the software revolution of the past 3 decades. Protocols are evolving into robust businesses generating revenues & accruing value. They're often more capital-efficient & viral than their Web2 counterparts.

At Heartcore, our motto is "investing in happiness." We firmly believe that underneath the memes, speculation, and attention-grabbing stories, the core innovations beneath crypto hold fundamental importance for humanity’s well-being.

Why now? Two years into a crypto winter, while all eyes have turned to AI, Web3 is a contrarian bet. "Tourist" investors and founders have left, the signal/noise ratio has improved, valuations are reasonable again, and expectations are in check.

Besides, the new cohort of founders is building upon an infrastructure that is finally ready for wider adoption. From L1/L2s able to process 1000s of tx per sec at minimal cost to AA, it's increasingly possible to create Web3 UX on par with cutting-edge Web2 products.

Why the application layer? Today, the infrastructure layer holds 98% of the industry’s ~$1.4 trillion market cap, with only one application layer protocol in the top 20, despite applications accounting for ~ 33% of total protocol fees.

This reminds us of the early 1990s tech industry when telcos, semis, and networking companies held the most value as folks thought they would capture the value created on the internet.

Fast forward 30y and telcos are trading at PE ratios <10x (from >150x), many of these infra companies have shuttered, while Web2 application layer firms like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, or Netflix have built trillion-dollar empires as value moved “up the stack”.

While history doesn't always repeat, it often rhymes. We see crypto currently mirroring the mid-90s tech industry, with the upcoming cycle driven by the rise of the "application layer” - from DeFi to gaming, social, or software.

We invest in crypto-native projects with value expected to accrue at protocol level. We either invest pre-token in early private rounds or later in more settled liquid protocols within our thesis. We take a 5-8y outlook with all our investments & focus on products over narratives

Our investment team is crypto-native at its core. @Yacine began privately investing in protocols as early as 2013, joining the very first rounds of investments of multi-billion dollar protocols like @ethereum, @Polkadot, @cosmos @0xProject @Stacks @StargateFinance

.@apgdoesweb3 & @YZVJH have been crypto power users and investors throughout multiple market cycles. @ThorHartvigsen has built a significant influence in the space with over 100k followers on CT/YouTube.

Yet, we’re more than crypto natives. Heartcore has built its reputation from its app layer Web2 investments since 2007. We bring decades worth of experience in supporting Web2 startups across categories. As crypto moves "up the stack" our learnings will be key to protocols.

We already started backing founders in early private rounds. Thrilled to announce our investments in @Panoptic_xyz, @elusivprivacy, @lifiprotocol, @superformxyz, @rhinestonewtf and @MetahoodXYZ. Our gratitude goes to these founders for their trust. Our DMs are open.

We co-invested with leading crypto funds such as @polychain @1confirmation @1kxnetwork @greenfield_cap @coinfund @dragonflyvc @ZeePrimeCap. These partnerships are central to our collaborative strategy. Get in touch if we haven't met yet.

Check our new website web3.heartcore.com Read our announcement post on Mirror: mirror.xyz/0x7b37960d146EEf3…