In the past, venture capitalists funded many startups. As a result, there was a high degree of centralization in startup funding and development. With decentralization taking over in major sectors of the economy, a new type of organization called a decentralized autonomous organization is coming into existence with the help of blockchain technology. DAOs are fully autonomous and self-governing digital communities that operate through transparent rules encoded on a blockchain. The community’s future is decided through token holders voting on decisions made by members, which allows every voice to be heard and recognized. While DAOs are often associated with the cryptocurrency world, they can really be used for any type of organization. Edgerunners is one such DAO that is gaining popularity for its innovative approach to its community.

Edgerunners DAO is a cryptocurrency-powered startup accelerator. It helps early-stage blockchain and cryptocurrency startups get off the ground by providing them with funding, mentorship, and resources. The brainchild of Tyler William, aka @virgilxyz, a veteran crypto investor and serial entrepreneur, the Edgerunners project is a startup and investment DAO that will invest in and build its own products and brands in multiple industries. Edgerunners is a community-led brand, an open-source venture, and a decentralized civilization on a mission to bring together like-minded investors in a mutually beneficial setup.

The founder got the idea to form this project from his previous business ventures. Before Edgerunners, Tyler was involved with multiple successful brands in the cannabis and blockchain industries, which gave him lots of experience in funding and developing projects. The Edgerunners project started out as an exploration during the development of the Cyber Pharmacy project, another one of Tyler’s successful ventures in the NFT space. The team was brainstorming how to best conduct a traditional IDO for the Cyber Pharmacy project and fund their roadmap 2.0 and token offering.

“We then realized there was a better way to fund, market, and promote our Cyber Pharmacy project,” the team explains. Previously, they’d experienced the excitement and rapid community building that accompanies a well-planned NFT project with a focus on social art. That meant that the potential investors gravitated towards projects with a strong emphasis on community and long-term utility. The team leveraged that and began laying the groundwork for Edgerunners, an aptly named community of risk-taking and fun-loving investors in the NFT and crypto space.

However, the project’s scope didn’t end there. The team was also looking for a way to decentralize the startup funding process to pursue the ideas they had and the businesses they wanted to build. “We knew doing this through a small and elite NFT project/community would be a great way to accomplish this and allow our community members to take part in the upside of the products and services we build,” the Edgerunners official website reports.

The result is Edgerunners, a small venture capital fund that will be funding and building its own ideas in-house instead of investing in other companies and projects. The team believes pairing that with a small and exclusive NFT community will allow them to form a strong group of loyal supporters aligned with the project’s mission statement and vision. Later, the development team will unveil other Web3 businesses they are developing. The dream is to keep expanding into more industries and ventures.

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