Investing in Upstream, DAOs and the Future of Web3

By David J. Blumberg, Founder and Managing Partner, and Greg Brainard, Associate, at Blumberg Capital

We are proud to announce our investment in Upstream and its mission to power the next generation of Web3 organizations and communities. Co-founders Alex Taub and Michael Schonfeld, Web3 veterans and community builders, are building Upstream Collectives, a no-code platform for anyone to create and manage a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) – with functionality to manage governance, compliance, and shared economics on the blockchain. We see a huge opportunity for Upstream to power the oncoming wave of Web3 organizations and grow with the burgeoning ecosystem of decentralized communities.

The Upstream Opportunity

Among the reasons that we are thrilled to join Upstream: 

• Providing vital infrastructure software for the rapidly emerging ecosystem supporting Web3 and DAOs
• Partnering with visionary founders Alex and Michael, and a dynamic team of industry and startup veterans from companies including Dwolla, SocialRank and Aviary
• Contributing to build a market leader in DAO infrastructure, with promising early traction
• Innovating a future where developers, investors and customers all share in value creation

What are DAOs?

DAOs are member-owned and managed organizations, enabled by blockchain technology, specifically smart contracts. The decentralized ownership structure aligns incentives, drives powerful engagement and enhances collaboration across the community.

Currently, there are more than 4,200 DAOs engaged in decentralized finance (DeFi), open-source project development and education, among many other endeavors. The DAO ecosystem has blossomed with 31x growth in 2021 according to DeepDAO. However, these organizations are difficult to initiate and manage, largely because the ecosystem is nascent and lacks automated foundational building blocks. The current DAO infrastructure market is fragmented across functions including communication, governance, voting, treasury, token gating, among others.

Upstream’s DAO solution

Upstream provides a welcome solution with its no-code DAO infrastructure platform – Upstream Collectives. With Upstream, users can quickly launch, organize and administer DAOs without coding or technical experience. DAO community members benefit through automated treasury, communication, proposals, governance and event management functions, all on one platform. Since launching its closed beta in November 2021, Upstream Collectives has helped facilitate and manage many DAOs with millions in assets.

By simplifying technical complexity, automating mundane tasks, monitoring compliance and managing finance and governance for the growing DAO market, Upstream is building an easy onramp and bright future for Web3. We are proud to invest with investors such as boldstart, Tiger Global, Vayner Fund and Fenbushi Capital.

Forbes shares more about Upstream and the future of Web3.