Well, isn’t this interesting? Re7 Capital, a firm that usually plays in the big leagues of decentralized finance (DeFi) (think money stuff happening without banks), just dropped news about a new fund. It’s ten million dollars, which in the crypto world isn’t exactly pocket change, but it’s not the biggest splash either. This money is going into something called SocialFi (that’s social media mixed with finance, basically). They want to back about thirty young companies building in this space.
- Re7 Capital is launching a $10 million fund to invest in SocialFi, a combination of social media and finance. They aim to support around thirty early-stage companies.
- Luc de Leyritz, the SocialFi lead at Re7, believes the timing is right due to advancements in technology, talent, and user behavior.
- The fund will invest in SocialFi projects regardless of their blockchain, including those on Lens Chain and Farcaster.
Now, SocialFi hasn’t exactly taken over the world yet. It’s still kind of early days. But Luc de Leyritz, the main guy for SocialFi at Re7 Capital, says it’s the most important thing happening in crypto right now. He knows that sounds a bit… out there. He calls it a “non-consensus view.” Luc just joined Re7 last month, coming over from another investment place. He seems pretty excited about this whole SocialFi idea.
Ten million bucks might seem small for a fund focused on a whole category. Luc explained that Re7 likes to be the first investor in these companies. They plan to write checks for maybe $100,000 to $300,000 each. That lets them support twenty-five to thirty different teams they really believe in. They keep some extra money aside to help out later if needed.
Luc put it pretty straight: “A small fund keeps incentives on carry, not fees, forces discipline, and lets us move fast.” He added, “This venture sleeve is a high-conviction scout vehicle, not an AUM (assets under management) vanity play.” Basically, they aren’t just trying to manage a huge pile of money to make fees. They want to find the best teams early. If this bet pays off, they’ll likely raise a bigger fund later.
Re7 Capital is the main backer of this new fund. But they aren’t alone. Folks from Lens (a SocialFi platform started by the Aave guy, Stani Kulechov) are in, and so is Dan Romero, one of the founders of Farcaster (another social crypto thing). Some of Re7’s existing investors are also putting money in. It’s a mix of people who know this space.
They haven’t actually finished raising the full ten million yet. But Luc said they already have over 60% of the money promised, mostly from those existing investors. They expect to finish raising the main chunk sometime in June. He even hinted they might raise a little bit more than ten million if things go well.
Why Now for SocialFi?
So, why is Re7 jumping into SocialFi now? Luc thinks the timing is just right. He said the necessary parts — the tech stuff (infrastructure), the smart people building things (talent), and how users are acting online (user behavior) — are finally lining up. Lots of different ideas are popping up in this area.
On the tech side, he pointed to Lens Chain. Think of it like a special highway built just for SocialFi apps. It’s a Layer 2 blockchain (a faster, cheaper layer built on top of a main blockchain) made by the company behind Aave. Luc described it like an AWS (Amazon Web Services) (a huge cloud computing service) for social apps. It promises almost no fees, really fast transactions, and features that make it easier for people to use crypto wallets without even realizing it (account abstraction and embedded wallets). Builders can use ready-made social and financial tools (plug-and-play social/financial primitives) to build their own SocialFi apps quickly, maybe in days instead of months.
He also likes Farcaster. He mentioned its mini-apps, which pop up right inside posts using “frames and deep links.” This turns just looking at a post into something you can interact with. It gives builders a place to try out new ideas with users already there, kind of like how Telegram has apps built inside it.
Luc sees top builders moving into SocialFi now. He estimates there are over 200 teams actively working on projects. He also sees how people online are starting to pay attention to ways they can earn money just by being social or creating content. He brought up apps like PumpFun, Polymarket, and Kaito as examples where people are getting rewarded for their attention or participation.
He thinks creators will eventually notice they can make money directly on these platforms in new ways. It won’t just be ads or brand deals. It can actually add to their content, not take away from it. He believes that once a really big creator makes more money on one of these platforms than they do from traditional methods, things could get big fast. They’ll bring their huge audiences with them.
Luc expects to see SocialFi become much more common in the next year or two, maybe 12 to 24 months from now. The new fund plans to invest in SocialFi companies no matter which blockchain they are building on, including projects on Lens Chain and Farcaster.
Re7 Capital is known for its work with liquid crypto assets (stuff you can easily buy and sell) and on-chain strategies (doing finance directly on the blockchain). But they see this SocialFi venture fund as a good step to take right now. Luc feels that for the first time in five years, there’s a real chance to make money investing early in crypto companies. He thinks it’s because attention, the ability for different apps to work together (composability), and money moving around (capital flows) are all coming together in SocialFi.
