Web3 developer Community Labs pledges $35M for Arweave ecosystem accelerator
Community Labs, a company specializing in Web3 software development, is set to launch a 10-week incubator program called AO Ventures, focusing on the Arweave (AR) ecosystem, with an initial investment of $35 million.
The program, scheduled to begin on April 23, aims to support projects within the decentralized storage network by providing access to funding, mentorship, and technical workshops.
This initiative is backed by venture capitalists such as Factor, Distributed Global, among others. It offers selected Web3 entrepreneurs the opportunity to engage with industry veterans and potentially pitch their projects to prominent VCs after the program concludes.
A notable aspect of the program is its inclusivity, as participation is open to all projects that utilize the AO Computer, a decentralized computing service leveraging the Arweave blockchain.
The AO Computer is highlighted for its ability to address common vulnerabilities found in centralized systems, such as data breaches and censorship, by facilitating parallel processing. This feature enables the support of numerous processes running simultaneously, enhancing scalability.
Furthermore, it allows interaction with the Arweave network to power decentralized applications across various sectors, including AI and gaming.
Arweave’s token, AR, has gained over 250% in the past year as part of the ongoing bull market, although the token is still well below its 2021 all-time highs. Last December, an unofficial Arweave forking plan drew controversy after its prominent layer-2 network Irys proposed to “drop the data set and reset the token supply.”
The network stores a wide range of data, from web pages to gaming data and NFT metadata, totaling approximately 57.64 pebibytes (about 64.9 million gigabytes).
Arweave is the brainchild of Sam Williams and William Jones from the University of Kent, who wanted to tackle the issue of data being removed from the internet, known as data impermanence, so that information, websites and applications are available for an indefinite period of time.
It uses a unique blockchain variant called Blockweave, whose interwoven structure provides much greater scalability and efficient storage options than traditional blockchains, making it ideal for storing large volumes of data.
Related: NFTs, gaming and storage: The key to Filecoin and Arweave accruing value?
