Qiming Venture Partners Executive Director Tang Yi: Optimistic about the long-term development of Web3, supporting Chinese entrepreneurs

Qiming Venture Partners is a global leading venture capital firm with 17 years of experience in the VC field. Since 2019, the company has begun to invest in the cryptocurrency and Web3 sectors, and has currently invested in 16-17 related projects. The company's investment strategy mainly focuses on supporting Chinese entrepreneurs and seeking opportunities in the global Crypto market.

Tang Yi stated that Qiming Venture Partners is optimistic about the long-term potential of the Crypto/Web3 industry. From a technical and talent perspective, this market has attracted a large number of smart engineers and developers to innovate in various fields. The initial vision of Crypto was to build a value network where users can own and quickly exchange digital assets, value, and identity. This field is similar to the early days of the internet in some ways and has already formed some factual standards globally, such as the formats and interaction rules for digital assets.

Regarding the investment stage, Tang Yi pointed out that the company's investment strategy in the Web3 field is more flexible. Although 70% of Qiming Venture Partners' investments usually occur in Series A or B rounds, considering the uniqueness of the Web3 industry, the company will also make some earlier seed and pre-seed investments. At the same time, for projects that have entered the growth stage or have a higher valuation, the company also has the capacity to make larger-scale investments.

In terms of investment direction, Qiming Venture Partners has a broad coverage of Web3 investments. From the user's perspective, the company focuses on projects aimed at both individual users and institutional users. In terms of infrastructure, the company has invested in multiple projects, including staking service providers. Additionally, the company has made some early investments in application layers such as DeFi, NFTs, and Gaming.

Regarding the current market conditions, Tang Yi stated that although he holds an optimistic attitude towards market improvement by the end of next year, he is also prepared for the unpredictability of the market. He advised invested enterprises to maintain sufficient long-term capital reserves, preferably with sustainable income and value capture, to cope with possible market fluctuations.

In terms of investment strategy, Qiming Venture Partners hopes to maintain a relatively stable investment pace, but market cycles do indeed affect specific operations. During a bull market, due to intense competition, the investment pace tends to be faster; in a bear market, projects can be evaluated more rationally, allowing for more time to conduct due diligence.

Tang Yi believes that Web3 faces many challenges in achieving widespread adoption. Currently, the user base of Web3 products is at least two orders of magnitude smaller compared to Web2, and there is also a significant gap in user experience. The main reasons include the acceptance issues surrounding cryptocurrency payment experiences and the inadequacy of underlying infrastructure. He expects that solving these problems may take more than two to three years.

For Web2 entrepreneurs entering the Web3 space, Tang Yi holds a positive attitude. He believes that these entrepreneurs have professional training, technical skills, and execution capabilities, and as long as they invest time to learn the characteristics of Web3, their growth will be rapid.

Finally, when discussing the phenomenon of some Web3 entrepreneurs turning to the AI field, Tang Yi expressed understanding of this trend. He pointed out that the Crypto industry is currently facing issues with a lack of new use cases and scenarios, while there have indeed been some significant changes in the underlying technology of the AI field. However, he also reminded entrepreneurs that whether in AI or Crypto, challenges will be encountered at the application level, requiring a long time for exploration. He suggested that entrepreneurs choose their direction based on personal interests and abilities, and be aware that both fields carry uncertainties.