We are excited to announce our partnership with Future VC, to launch an NFT that tokenises mentoring time. Future VC provides internships, masterclasses and mentorship opportunities for those wanting to build a career in Venture Capital.
We realise that Venture Capital can be something of a closed shop. To its credit, in recent years, the industry has worked hard to increase diversity through hiring, however, those candidates are mostly still sourced from the same universities, the same banks and the same tech companies and so on. We, along with Future VC, believe that diversity of experience is a huge untapped opportunity to expand inclusivity efforts in the industry – diversity of experience among VCs will lead to diversity of experience among entrepreneurs and ultimately will create greater opportunities in business and for our society.
But what to do about it?
We believe it is a question of access. Future VC, which is part of Diversity VC, is focussed on the top of funnel problem in VC, committing to internships around the world that help VC funds identify and hire interns for 2 month-long internships alongside enabling a complete educational and mentoring programme (something we proudly support). But more can be done. This was the inspiration behind this first use case of the Molten NFT – an NFT, distributed by Future VC, with a utility that converts to mentoring time in the calendar of Molten’s investment team.
Topher Ahn of Molten Ventures said:
“As an alumni of the Future VC program and a Web 3.0 enthusiast, I wanted to come up with a way to give back by decentralising access. Here at Molten we talk a lot about ways to Make More Possible. Working in the investment team that motto is directed at visionary entrepreneurs, but it can also mean expanding opportunities for capable people from any background to become drivers of the future.”
The NFTs can be recognised in the form of a GIF which highlights the recent rebrand to Molten from Draper Esprit. Initially, 15 NFTs will be distributed by Future VC to underrepresented candidates they judge will benefit most from the opportunity. The NFTs themselves hold no monetary value but are redeemable for a meeting between a member of Molten and once assigned to candidates by Future VC are for the exclusive use of that individual. Molten believes there are many more applications of NFTs and is considering expanding the use cases behind its NFTs in 2022 and beyond.
Martin Davis, CEO of Molten Ventures said:
We’re excited about the potential of NFTs and are deeply engaged with the business opportunities of the Web 3.0 economy. But this project is a chance for us to deploy this tech in a way that hints at a far wider benefit. We’re also delighted to partner with Future VC who, like us, believe we’ve barely scratched the surface of the possibilities created by diversity of experience.
Seb Butt, Founder of Future VC said:
“Those working within venture capital have recognised the under-representation of a number of groups in the sector, and the detrimental impacts this has. Over the past few years, several initiatives have helped to set a path towards intersectional inclusion leading to greater diversity. Yet there is much more to be done. These issues have long been a part of VC, therefore innovation is key to producing lasting and fundamental change. Topher’s fantastic idea of an NFT programme represents exactly the kind of forward-thinking approach we believe will have a positive impact. Our intern and alumni group is looking forward to receiving NFTs to have 1:1 contact with experts in the industry.”
The Molten NFTs hold no monetary value. Each NFT may only be redeemed once and remains personal to the recipient. Molten NFTs must not be transferred to a third party without Molten's prior written consent. Molten NFTs are unregulated utility tokens, and therefore are not currently subject to financial services regulation. Statutory protections, rights of complaint and compensation do not apply.