​As institutions and jurisdictions around the world accelerate their adoption of AI, blockchain technology and digital assets, the UK stands uniquely positioned to compete in the global race for innovation.

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As Keith Grose, UK CEO, Coinbase asserts: “With deep reservoirs of talent, capital, sophisticated regulators and leading academic institutions, the UK is well positioned to benefit from these opportunities. However, ensuring that these products and services are born out of the UK is vital. For too long, access to capital, mentorship and resources has held back this ambition. This significant investment changes that.”

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Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “This announcement is a strong vote of confidence in the UK’s tech sector - underlining our position as a global leader in innovation. Not only will it ensure that the UK remains a key leader in blockchain technology but will also unlock growth as we deliver on the Plan for Change. Our modern Industrial Strategy has highlighted financial and professional services as key growth sectors for the UK to thrive in, showing that we are listening and responding to the needs of Fintech businesses – whether that’s on access to talent, finance, or the wider regulatory environment.”

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Founders Factory, one of the leading start-up accelerators globally, will deliver world class business and growth training, with hands-on support across business strategy, go to market, product development and fundraising. Alongside them, Fabric Ventures, Animoca Brands and Coinbase will deliver support on tokenomics, community go-to-market strategies, and best practices for scaling businesses in the blockchain and AI space. 

 

Robby Yung, the CEO of Investments at Animoca Brands stated: “It is critical that the UK takes advantage of the opportunity of  the fast–growing Web3 industry, not just as a hub for investment but as a place where innovation is built, owned, and scaled. The UK must be a creator, not just a consumer, of this innovation. The real opportunity lies in developing it here, building intellectual property that leverages the world-class talent base and ecosystem in the UK.”

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The Labour Government's vision for growth is deeply tied to the success of one of the UK’s fastest-growing sectors: technology. This initiative is a step change in making that vision a reality – supporting a diverse group of founders across blockchain-based payments, entertainment,  AI, and other cutting-edge industries. Commenting on this, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Fabric Ventures, Richard Muirhead said: “This Government’s AI Action Plan has been met with widespread optimism. However, this is only one piece of the puzzle. The convergence of AI, blockchain and Web3 plays to the UKs strengths in these disciplines - and fostering collaboration amongst our strong industries like financial services, advertising and  pharmaceuticals is essential for the UK to maintain its leadership in the global digital race. This accelerator will play a key role in driving that progress.”

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Damian Routley, COO at Founders Factory, said: “This is about leveling up the UK’s ability to build and scale frontier technology. Founders in blockchain and AI need more than capital — they need hands-on, specialised support to unlock product-market fit and go global. That’s what this accelerator delivers. By combining deeptech expertise with the power of a world-class network, we’re creating a launchpad for the next generation of breakthrough UK startups.”

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Key Details:

• Founders receive an investment of up to £250k in cash alongside 16 weeks of operational excellence from Founders Factory's leading accelerator program. 

• Access to world leading Web3 specialists Animoca Brands, Coinbase and Fabric Ventures who will provide best in class Web3 support across market making, listings, tokenomics and community-led go to market, and a tier one network of global Web3 thought leaders. 

• The culmination of the cohort will be a demo day, featuring a curated set of world class investors to give each founder the best chance to raise Seed / Series A.

• Applications are open to all businesses building for the open economy and tokenised business models across all sectors.

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About Fabric Ventures

Fabric Ventures Group is today a venture capital manager comprising around 20 people that has backed close to 500 founders with the shared vision of human centric computing driving an open economy and supported by an open web stack where individuals own their identity, value and data. Fabric’s mission is to earn the right to contribute alongside these exceptional founders to the most pervasive and enduring digital ventures and communities. 

 

Since 2009 Fabric has backed over 100 projects and companies such as Polkadot, NEAR, Immutable, Flowdesk, Circle, Tagomi (Coinbase), Staked.us (Kraken), Sorare, 1inch, Ramp, and Pantera Venture Fund I, Bitstamp, Bitrise.

 

Fabric has received  commitments of over €200m including European Investment Fund and the co-founders of Ethereum; Sorare; Polkadot; TransferWise and others.

For more information visit www.fabric.vc or follow on and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Farcaster and Lens.

 

About Animoca Brands

Animoca Brands Corporation Limited (ACN: 122 921 813) is a Web3 leader that leverages tokenization and blockchain to deliver digital property rights to consumers, helping to establish the open metaverse and its associated network effects. It has received broad industry and market recognition including Fortune Crypto 40, Top 50 Blockchain Game Companies 2025, Financial Times’ High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific, and Deloitte Tech Fast.

 

Animoca Brands realizes its mission via three integrated business pillars: operating Web3 businesses to advance blockchain adoption with native projects such as Moca Network, Anichess, The Sandbox, Open Campus, NEOM Web3 initiatives, and a regulated stablecoin project in partnership with Standard Chartered and HKT; providing digital asset advisory services including tokenomics advisory, liquidity provisioning, and institutional research to help external Web3 projects grow; and investment management, with a portfolio of investments in over 540 companies including industry leaders Pudgy Penguins, Yuga Labs, Axie Infinity, Polygon, Consensys, Magic Eden, OpenSea, Dapper Labs, YGG, and many others.

For more information visit www.animocabrands.com or follow on X, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and TikTok.

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About Coinbase

Crypto creates economic freedom by ensuring that people can participate fairly in the economy, and Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) is on a mission to increase economic freedom for more than 1 billion people. We’re updating the century-old financial system by providing a trusted platform that makes it easy for people and institutions to engage with crypto assets, including trading, staking, safekeeping, spending, and fast, free global transfers. We also provide critical infrastructure for onchain activity and support builders who share our vision that onchain is the new online. And together with the crypto community, we advocate for responsible rules to make the benefits of crypto available around the world.