Our goal in sharing this information is twofold:

  • To invite those working on these cutting-edge ideas to join the Iron Capital community and explore potential funding opportunities.
  • To serve as a source of inspiration for those seeking direction in their crypto and Web3 ventures.

We recognize that this compilation is by no means comprehensive, and our past investment experiences have often included supporting novel ideas that initially took us by surprise. With that said, we remain eager to discover and back the next groundbreaking project in crypto space.

AI

  • Prompt for book creation: Can you imagine writing a book with a single prompt? This slowly becomes possible. A startup that can provide a book (or maybe a short story at first) through a single prompt would generate quite an attention.
  • Real copywriting through AI: Now AI generates text for sales and copywriting that sounds incredibly persuasive… yet it’s quite the opposite. E.g. it tells the teachers that a course that’s $1,000 is cheap because it doesn’t understand the avatar. Imagine a startup that creates a framework for proper copy creation based on AI, copy that takes into account the avatar and the scenarios given and gives 90% of what a good copywriter can create.
  • ChatGPT + Siri-like AI: AI speaks human? – Imagine combining ChatGPT and Siri to enable natural conversation with a computer. “Hey SiriAI, share a joke about a balloon and a dolphin. What can I make with pasta and tomato sauce? What’s the difference between AP Aruba 22 and Archer C7?”
  • AI tool for marketing: Envision auto-generated and auto-posted content on your social channels, testing various times, days, and content types while auto-optimising for audience engagement.
  • AI for micro-tasks.
  • Identify AI-generated content (and human-generated content).
  • AI for health diagnosis: Initiate a video call with AI to receive video-guided assistance for self-diagnosing diseases as a starting point before a dr’s appointment.
  • AI-powered cybersecurity.
  • AI financial planning: Utilize AI for budgeting and financial planning.
  • Grammarly + ChatGPT AI for word-processing: Improve your writing in real-time.
  • AI for Presentations: Paste your document into a text box, choose a presentation style, and generate a Google Slides presentation complete with text and images.
  • AI for Social Health: Engage in conversations with various AI personalities (psychologist, friend, mentor, coach) for companionship and support.
  • Influencer platform: A token-powered platform that shows a roadmap (wannabe) influencers need to go through to become the real deal. Each stage is unlocked with tokens and the platform has various services that they can use from logo design to an integration with image generation for when they need to make posts, posts suggestions, etc etc.
  • AI for video meetings: Accent correction, eye correction, voice modulation, etc.

Social

  • The next social app: What’s after Tik Tok? Can we get an app that promotes content instead of influencers (reddit-like?)? Which protects users’ privacy?
  • Tik tok/metaverse/shopping integration app
  • Virtual concierge app: connect with an assistant that helps you do tasks or reach specific destinations or virtually escorts you (and gets paid).
  • Habit-developing tool: an app that rewards desired behaviour with tokens but that also has a way to raise the token prices (there were weight loss apps that did that but they got exploited).
  • Anti spam mail: A GMail plugin that generates unique aliases on each subscription so you can instantly deactivate the one that spams you. (created by Apple)
  • Decentralised social network (no ability to censor/filter), think of a social app on Tor.
  • Fan apps: an app where you can follow & support people oriented towards the value they bring (maybe NFT-filtered creator content)
  • Decentralised funding: anyone in the whole world can contribute to your specific cause. Make it seen through DAOs or maybe virtually in the Metaverse.
  • Digital democracies / DAOs applications
  • Blockchain-based product verification: reviews you can trust.
  • Professional talent network: users can bring their reputation with them across different platforms.
  • Go-to networking app: A site/app that connects to all of your social media accounts and aggregates all the information about your relationships there. (Update: found out about Clay)
  • Glasses with teleprompter: I had a dream from my public speaking days, to have a normal-looking pair of glasses that showed me the text during my speeches. We will get there, but whoever gets first will have some useful tech to sell.

Dev

  • Coding autopilot: use AI to help prevent bugs. More than that: use it to develop functioning code.
  • AWS decentralised alternative
  • Creative trilema solutions: Think Consensys, zkSync, what’s next?
  • Bigger/faster/cheaper blockchain solutions

NFTs

  • New NFT protocol that integrates royalties when reselling the NFTs (thus becoming platform independent).
  • Integrating NFTs with real world businesses: The first project that gets a deal where the NFT really is a legally-binding document gets a win.
  • Patent registration NFT platform: register your idea, have it in your wallet.

News

  • Blockchain-based news verification: How can news be curated? How can it be fact checked and users veto-ed for accuracy? Imagine blockchain-based news verification and authentication to wallet id.
  • News rating and curation: fake, disinformation, misinformation, facts-only, opinion, plagiarised, etc
  • Quality, verifiable news: Using blockchain to maintain a record of news quality over time for specific entities. Ability to add proof and counterproof to them.
  • News visualisation: what are the emotions, how pro is the company towards a subject, etc, explore connections between topics

Metaverse

  • The next viral metaverse
  • XR tech that has mass adoption potential: How can we connect to an XR reality if we don’t yet use the tech (no mass adoption)?
  • Metaverse elearning / free learning. 
  • Metaverse conferences: tech that integrates XR, online and physical meetings for conferences.

Anonymity

  • Anonymous social network with a way to provide authority to users that provided truthfulness (or by other metrics).
  • Anonymous recurring transactions.
  • Uncensorable platforms: news, financial, social.
  • Anonymous health sharing: app that leverages the power of anonymity to share personal health data across the world for researchers to develop better drugs and treatments.

Gaming

The gaming industry continues to grow at an exponential rate and crypto needs an influx of money outside of its usual path (BTC -> ETH -> blockchains -> altcoins). Gamers pay if its worth it.. but so far few crypto games are really interesting. Let’s see what the year brings.

  • Crypto advantage in gaming: Where can crypto create a clear advantage in gaming?
  • NFT integration API: plug & play in various existing, non-crypto games like GTA5
  • AR games that promote sports or socialising.
  • Educational gaming, a concept where users learn by playing without thinking of the activity as tiring.
  • AI co-created gaming: Integrating gaming with AI so that the story is co-created. Imagine a game where the story never repeats itself. Or where the story is about your life.
  • Digital games as NFTs: Integration of NFTs with digital downloads so you are able to resell the game while the company gets a royalty.
  • Steam alternative: for the games that crypto is continuously launching (most of which don’t go past the PoC phase).
  • Games that already prove virality
  • Games that seamlessly integrate with crypto: players should not care about the tokens part even if the game runs on the blockchain

Security

  • Decentralised crypto wallet that can transfer funds / be accessed upon death (the inheritance debate).
  • A protocol where wallet private keys can be changed/recovered.
  • Multi-factor auth wallet / multi-custodial wallet: your wallet at a digital entity that can double check certain behaviour by calling you before they confirm a transaction. You can set limits on your wallet and certain addresses can be quickly blacklisted in case of hacks.
  • Solving the multiple wallets vs safety conundrum: Every crypto expert out there has a lot of wallets for diverse things. Can they all be integrated into a tech that protects the user vs hacks? A safety meta-wallet to store all the wallets (maybe pre-drain them in case of attacks, monitor their usage on par with a user authentication method, have a quick way to migrate funds / stablecoins to a vault that uses 2-factor auth or some other crazy ideas)
  • One location for PII (Personal Identifiable Information): Just like you login with GMail on various platforms, having a decentralized PII platform that integrates with major players in the industry is a must.

NFTs

  • NFTs with Web2 integration: Think Kith x Invisible Friends, Pudgy Penguins collectibles, Mad Lads x Solana Phone)
  • NFT for identification/legal: personal IDs, official documents, guarantees

Other Ideas

  • Web3 vs climate change. Regenerative finance.
  • RWA: This narrative is getting some traction. There are projects like MakerDAO and AAVE which are accepting RWA as a collateral for borrowing
  • Crypto projects with big tech partners: Projects that can move the space.
  • Elderly care related services: Baby boomers are currently heading for retirement homes, can we build something around this?
  • Batteries and crypto: Supercapacitors discharge slowly but charge quickly… can we link with the industry?

Find more about Bogdan Vaida on his LinkedIn page.