Adaverse is a blockchain accelerator and early-stage investment fund focused on the Cardano ecosystem. The fund was established in 2022 as a joint initiative between EMURGO – the commercial and venture arm of Cardano – and Animoca Brands, the Hong Kong-based digital entertainment and blockchain investor. The combination brought together EMURGO's deep Cardano protocol knowledge and Animoca's broad Web3 network and gaming expertise.
The fund targets early-stage projects building decentralised applications, DeFi protocols, NFT infrastructure, and developer tooling on Cardano. Its geographic emphasis is dual-tracked: Africa, where EMURGO has maintained a dedicated regional presence through EMURGO Africa, and Southeast Asia, where Animoca Brands has strong operational roots. This positioning makes Adaverse one of the few accelerators explicitly trying to grow Cardano adoption in emerging markets rather than concentrating only on established Web3 hubs.
Selected portfolio companies span Cardano-native DeFi, gaming, and identity projects. Public information about specific deal sizes is limited, and the fund has not disclosed total assets under management. With 16 recorded portfolio investments and 3 lead positions, Adaverse operates at a relatively modest scale compared to multi-chain generalist funds, reflecting its deliberate focus on a single L1 ecosystem.
Notable investments
- Cardano-native DeFi protocols – Adaverse has backed multiple liquidity and lending projects building on Cardano's eUTxO model, though individual project names have not all been publicly confirmed by the fund.
- NFT and gaming projects – consistent with Animoca's strategic interests, several portfolio companies work in Cardano-based gaming assets and digital collectibles.
- Infrastructure and identity – projects targeting decentralised identity (DID) solutions relevant to African financial inclusion have been part of the thesis.
A comprehensive public portfolio list is not available on Adaverse's official channels as of early 2026. Interested parties can track investments through Crunchbase.
Team
Public information about Adaverse's managing partners is limited. The fund operates under the institutional backing of EMURGO, whose CEO is Ken Kodama, and Animoca Brands, co-founded by Yat Siu and David Kim. Day-to-day management of Adaverse's accelerator programme has been handled by a team based across Hong Kong and the African region, but individual partner names have not been widely published in primary sources.
Recent activity
Between 2023 and 2025, Adaverse continued its cohort-based accelerator model, running application cycles for Cardano founders. The fund's activity aligns with Cardano's broader development milestones, including the rollout of smart contract improvements and increased DeFi liquidity on the network. The retail ROI figure of 0.01 recorded in available databases suggests early-stage portfolio companies have not yet delivered significant secondary-market returns, which is consistent with a 2022 vintage fund still holding illiquid positions.
Adaverse's outlook depends heavily on Cardano's ability to compete for developer mindshare against faster-moving ecosystems such as Solana and Base. If Cardano's DeFi total value locked continues to grow and Africa-focused Web3 adoption accelerates, Adaverse's geographic and protocol bets could prove well-timed. However, the narrow single-chain mandate carries concentration risk that broader multi-chain funds do not face.
