(5/29) Bitcoin-rewards startup raising seed (34%+ QoQ GMV growth)
++ Understanding the Web's cycle 101
Welcome to the 23rd edition of the Geeks Of The Valley (GOTV) Newsletter, where we share exciting ideas/insights on tech, ventures & trends + feature interesting early-stage company every week. If you enjoy and want to keep abreast with insights and interesting early-stage startups before they go big, subscribe to this newsletter ✌️.
Geeks of the week
Startup name: Satsback (raising seed). Please reach out to aizuddin@geeksofthevalley.com for an intro!
Tractions:
34%+ Q-on-Q GMV growth.
Over 10k+ participating ecommerce brands.
7k+ users.
The Sparks ✨
Bitcoin adoption is rising in a secular trend with over ~130m users and likely to increase to 10x by 2025-27.
Retail e-commerce sales grew to $4.9 trillion in 2021.
Into the 🐰🕳️
2021 was a big year for the crypto market. Over the last year, we've seen Bitcoin hit many new all-time highs, significant dips, and increased institutional buy-in from major corporations. Meanwhile, public interest in cryptocurrency has soared: it's a hot topic among investors and popular culture. However, the space is still in its early stages and is continually changing. That's why every new Bitcoin high is likely to be followed by a significant drop.
But what exactly is web3? To understand it, we need to understand the Web’s cycle.
Web 1.0: The earliest form of internet
Web 1.0 was essentially a group of people generating content and web pages for a large number of users. People could then access the source's facts, information, and content. Consider a large digital encyclopedia that lacks the images, controls, forms, and interactivity that the modern internet provides. That is why it is referred to as the "read-only" web.
Web 2.0: Today
Web 2.0 is the version of the web-enabled software instead of just being basic material across the web as shown with Web 1.0. The shift into this new version occurred due to advancements in protocols and their enablers, such as browsers and operating systems. Social networking was a popular software category which took off from the web.
However, there is a catch to it. A user will send a request to the server, which will be responded to by the webpage. The only problem is that whoever manages the data on the centralized server has access to such information.
Web 3.0: The future
While the web's second iteration relied on users providing data that the host would profit from, the third iteration would return the benefits to the users. Simply put, web3 is a cryptocurrency extension that uses blockchain in unique ways to achieve new goals. The number of tokens in a wallet, the conditions of a self-executing contract, or the code decentralized app (dApp) - built on peer-to-peer networks.
One distinction that made web3 unique and interesting over web2 is the ownership capability, which means builders and users of a platform own a piece of what they use. This can be in the form of a token provided for a service, such as providing liquidity for trade.
