YZi Labs Launches Atlas Scout Program, Arming College Students to Back Web3, AI & Biotech Startups

Key Takeaways:

• YZi Labs has launched the Atlas Scout Program, a $1 million student-managed venture initiative that empowers 5 to 10 top college students to act as investors, backing founders across Web3, AI, and biotech.
• The Atlas Scouts are equipped with global travel budgets, incentive-aligned rewards, and direct access to YZi Labs’ ecosystem of 300+ portfolio projects.

YZi Labs, a $10 billion global investment firm backing founders across Web3, AI, and biotech, today announced the launch of its Atlas Scout Program, which will recruit 5 to 10 students from leading universities globally to form a student-managed venture fund and write checks on behalf of the YZi Labs investment team.

The Atlas Scout Program empowers college students to help shape the future of venture investing. It gives them a mandate to back the visionary peers building alongside them, while also identifying frontier founders across the broader Web3, AI, and biotech ecosystems.

The program will begin with a selected cohort from Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Columbia, NYU, CMU, and UC Berkeley, backed by an indicative allocation of up to $1 million to pursue high-conviction, early-stage startups.

Atlas Scouts will receive unprecedented structural advantages:

1. Incentive Alignment with Long-Term Outcomes

Atlas Scouts source deals, conduct rigorous diligence, and may be eligible to participate in program-based incentive structures. By aligning their rewards with the success of the founders they back, YZi Labs ensures scouts feel the full weight of every investment decision.

2. Travel Budget for Global Web3, AI, Biotech Conferences 

YZi Labs provides Atlas Scouts with a dedicated travel budget to attend leading crypto summits, AI conferences, and biotech events around the world. This gives scouts high-level industry exposure, helps them build meaningful relationships, and lets them see firsthand where global capital and market attention are headed.

3. Access to resource & mentorship in YZi Labs’ Ecosystem

Scouts gain direct entry into the YZi Labs ecosystem, a network encompassing over 300 portfolio projects that supports hundreds of millions of users globally. Both the scouts and the founders they champion plug directly into the industry's largest distribution engine, guided by the active, hands-on mentorship of the YZi Labs team across the Web3, AI, and biotech fields.

"In recent founder meetings, I’ve been struck by the brilliance of 16-to-18-year-old builders. In this AI-driven era, the pace of learning and entrepreneurship is accelerating exponentially." said Ella Zhang, Head of YZi Labs. “As the builders of tomorrow emerge earlier than ever, the investors backing them need to be there from the start. We created the Atlas Scout Program to empower the next generation not just to witness the future, but to identify, fund, and help shape it.”

The program serves as a direct conduit to YZi Labs’ flagship EASY Residency incubation program and its direct investment vehicles. By empowering the brightest minds on campus, YZi Labs is cultivating a new generation of investors equipped to navigate frontier technology and back the visionary founders who will define the next decade.

If you’re studying at one of the universities above — or know someone who is — we’d love to hear from you. Apply to the Atlas Scout Program: https://tinyurl.com/2datmy9v

About YZi Labs

YZi Labs manages over $10 billion in assets globally. Our investment philosophy emphasizes impact first—we believe that meaningful returns will naturally follow. We invest in ventures at every stage, prioritizing those with solid fundamentals in Web3, AI, and biotech.

YZi Labs’ portfolio covers over 300 projects from over 25 countries across six continents. Some notable portfolios include Trustwallet, CoinMarketCap, Polygon, Injective, Ethena, Safepal Wallet, Better Payment Network, Aster, XAI(SpaceX), and more. More than 65 of YZi Labs’ portfolio companies have gone through our incubation programs. For more information, follow YZi Labs on X (@yzilabs).