VCs' Bull Market Navigators: Unveiling Foresight X's Incubator Gems

As the market transitions from a bear to a bull phase, liquidity surges, presenting investment opportunities. VCs, adept at identifying shifts in sentiment, capitalize on opportunities ahead of others, positioning themselves in promising sectors and projects. Tracking the project allocation of prominent VCs, like Foresight Ventures, offers insights into potential areas for growth and investment. Foresight X, Foresight Ventures' accelerator, has selected 17 projects across various fields, including DePIN, AI, and BTC L2, in its three cohorts. These selected projects are poised to lead narratives in 2024 and offer promising opportunities for investors.

Navigating the Bull Market with VCs: Exploring Foresight X's Incubator Projects

In any market transition from bear to bull, the surge in liquidity presents investors with the tantalizing prospect of substantial gains. However, identifying the most lucrative investments during this critical period can be a daunting task. Historically, venture capitalists (VCs) have exhibited a knack for deploying "counter-cyclical" strategies, skillfully perceiving sentiment shifts and capitalizing on opportunities ahead of the curve. They leverage their market insights and incubation resources, positioning themselves to reap the early rewards of a bull market's wealth effect.

The pivotal year of 2023 witnessed the ascendancy of a constellation of concepts, including the Bitcoin Ecosystem, Solana Ecosystem, LSD Protocol, Modularity, and Re-Staking. Many of these, such as the surge in excitement surrounding BTC Layer 2 infrastructure fueled by Ordinals and the remarkable performance of modular projects like SEI and TIA, were early-stage investments strategically made by leading VCs.

For ordinary investors, tracking the project allocations of prominent VCs offers invaluable guidance. Their investment portfolios represent a filtered collection of "premium seed players" meticulously selected through rigorous research and industry expertise. The more exceptional a VC's track record, the greater the potential reference value for ordinary investors seeking to capitalize on market opportunities.

Amidst the industry reshuffle of the past two years, Foresight Ventures has emerged as a representative of the new generation of crypto VCs. Renowned for its contrarian large-scale positioning, Foresight Ventures' investment portfolio spans diverse sectors, including AI, DePIN, BTC L2, Data, On-Chain ML Models, and LSD, reflecting its keen sensitivity to investment opportunities and ability to identify burgeoning hotspots.

In this article, we delve into the investment inclinations of prominent VCs regarding the emerging narrative of Web3 in 2024. This exploration is based on a meticulous analysis of the projects incubated by Foresight X, the accelerator arm of Foresight Ventures, over the past year. By scrutinizing these projects, we aim to uncover potential "seed players" poised to shape the Web3 landscape and lead the narrative in 2024.

Foresight X's Three-Phase Incubator Program

Foresight X, the flagship accelerator program within the broader Foresight investment ecosystem, has launched a total of three cohort accelerators over the past year, investing a combined $30 million in high-potential projects.

Phase 1: Concluded in March 2023, this cohort selected seven projects.
Phase 2: Completed in October 2023, this cohort selected four projects.
Phase 3: Successfully concluded in March 2024, this cohort selected six projects.

These selected projects encompass a diverse array of fields, including DePIN, AI, BTC L2, Data, On-Chain ML Models, RGB, ORDI, Taproot Assets, BitVM, BTC Sidechains, BTCFi, Blockchain Game, Creator Economy, SocialFi, DID, ZK dapps, Tokenized real-world assets, Privacy tracks, and other Web3 domains. Notably, many projects integrate multiple narratives, such as AI and DePIN.

In addition to receiving professional one-on-one acceleration services from Foresight X throughout the cycle, selected projects gain access to a comprehensive range of resources:

• Technical support
• Brand marketing
• Tokenomics
• Operations
• Listing
• Company management
• Talent development
• Legal regulations
• Full-process, full-chain, and all-round support to assist in project development

Notable Projects from Foresight X's Cohort Accelerators

ION Protocol
ION Protocol is a price-agnostic lending platform built to support staked and re-staked assets. It enables users to participate in diverse lending markets, ranging from leveraged staking yields to points multiplier pools and beyond. By introducing staking-based mechanisms to DeFi, ION enhances the lending and borrowing experience, allowing users to maximize earnings while minimizing risk.

GoSleep
GoSleep is a HealthFi-focused lifestyle app built on the Arbitrum platform that motivates users to embrace a healthy lifestyle. It provides personalized sleep advice tailored to individual sleeping patterns, aiming to foster healthy sleep habits over time.

ORA Protocol
ORA is the verifiable Oracle protocol that brings the power of AI and complex compute on-chain. Its two primary products, AI Oracle (OAO) and zkOracle, enable the integration of AI and complex historical data on-chain. ORA breaks down the limitations of smart contracts by providing richer data sources and compute, empowering developers to innovate freely.

Space Nation
Space Nation Online is a groundbreaking Web3 Space Opera MMORPG designed to provide an immersive gaming experience for both Massive Web2 Gamers and the diverse community of Web3 users.

TonUP
TonUP is an innovative platform built on the TON Blockchain that strives to revolutionize the way projects are launched and supported in the crypto space. It offers a comprehensive ecosystem for token launches, community participation, and project growth. TonUP is dedicated to identifying and nurturing promising projects, bringing exciting opportunities to the broader community.

Glacier Network
Glacier Network is constructing a programmable, modular, and scalable data network tailored for large-scale DApps, supercharging DePIN and GenAI. It empowers decentralized apps with Data Availability (DA), enabling them to leverage decentralized Database (DB), powered by Data Compatibility (DC). Glacier launched GlacierDA to address the demand for off-chain verification and computation of executed states of GenAI and DePIN. It provides a programmable data-centric blockchain to seamlessly manage datasets with GlacierDB and LLM VectorDB on top of Arweave, Filecoin, and BNB Greenfield.

LSDx
LSDx is an ultra-liquid protocol for all LSDs. It optimizes the financial value of liquid staking derivatives (LSD) assets, addressing the limited liquidity and lack of diverse financial scenarios that impede their connection with various DeFi protocols. ETHx is the first liquidity pool launched by LSDx. Users can subscribe to ETHx by staking ETH, stETH, and sfrxETH, facilitating instant switching of different LSD tokens with low slippage through ETHx. LSD holders benefit from higher APR, better liquidity, and more dispersed risk.

XLink
XLink, a strategic spinoff from ALEX Lab, positions itself as a critical Crypto Bridge within the Bitcoin Ecosystem. Its platform enables the smooth transfer of assets across Bitcoin, Bitcoin L2 such as Stacks, and EVM. As a gateway for users venturing into the Bitcoin space, XLink is dedicated to transforming the native DeFi experience. It actively forges partnerships and integrates with top-tier BTC Layer2s, aiming to enhance liquidity and seamless asset transactions.

UniCross
UniCross is a versatile platform that allows users to inscribe, trade, and bridge BTC assets on Bitcoin Layer 2. Through UniCross, users can mint Layer 1 BRC-20 tokens (including ARC-20, BRC-420, and others) directly on Bitcoin Layer 2. UniCross provides users with the flexibility to make payments using various blockchain assets, such as BRC-20, BTC, and ETH. Upon minting BTC assets, users receive stTokens, which can be traded on the UniCross Marketplace or swapped for Layer 2 ERC-20 tokens.

Shell Finance
Shell Finance is a trustless lending protocol operating on the Bitcoin Layer1 network. It empowers users to utilize Bitcoin inscription assets (including Ordinals, Runes, Atomicals, Stamps, etc.) as collateral to obtain loans. Loans are disbursed as synthetic Bitcoin assets, $BTCx, issued by Shell Finance. Essentially, Shell Finance allows users to leverage their assets and unlock liquidity without selling them. This month, Shell Finance will launch an NFT collection called Darkman, accompanied by its token yield farming mechanism.

Apus Network
Apus Network is a decentralized AI Agents DePIN project that leverages blockchain technology, Web3, and DePIN computational resources to establish a transparent, secure, and incentive-compatible AI ecosystem. Governed by the community, developers contribute AI agents, and nodes offer computational power, with the shared goal of providing reliable AI services to users. Apus Network aims to democratize AI, creating a mutually beneficial scenario where all parties prosper.

CUDIS
Originating in California, CUDIS embodies the seamless fusion of AI, DePIN, wellness, and fashion. It provides accessible and rewarding wellness tracking services backed by blockchain encryption, granting users ownership of their health data and enabling them to monetize it through token rewards. Unlike traditional competitors like Oura and Whoop, which charge substantial annual fees, CUDIS has a minimal barrier of entry, allowing users to profit from the wellness ecosystem. Over the next 12-18 months, CUDIS plans to deliver over 1 million wearable DePIN products to both web2 and web3 users.

ZestLab
Zest is creating a consumer-focused Web3-native brand with the goal of facilitating broader user participation in the Web3 movement through non-financial means. Their inaugural product, the Model323 sneaker, features a built-in Insol smart chip that tracks user exercise data. This data is then used in combination with tokenomics to reward users for their health data feedback, fostering a lightweight fitness ecosystem. Zest's long-term vision encompasses expanding their product line to encompass a range of sports products, nurturing a community-centric brand with high user engagement.

Blade Games
Blade Games is an on-chain game studio and infrastructure provider, built around the WebAssembly and zkWASM tech stack. Games built with their zk game engine can execute game logic (c++, go, rust) inside the zkVM and settle game results as ZKP