A new funding model pits 9 professional investor funds against 1 crowd-driven fund to test who can best identify breakout companies in gaming, XR, and interactive media.

LAS VEGAS, NV, Apr 8, 2026 - (ACN Newswire) - Droid Investment Funds today announced the launch of the 10 Fund Competition, an innovative startup funding model built around a simple but powerful question: Who is better at spotting the future—professional investors or the crowd?

Structured as a live contest, nine professionally managed funds and one crowd fund will discover and accelerate promising companies across gaming, esports, XR, spatial computing, creator tools, and interactive commerce.

Unlike traditional venture capital models where allocation decisions occur behind closed doors, this competition makes startup selection visible, dynamic, and participatory. Professional fund managers bring deep industry experience, elite networks, and rigorous investment discipline. The crowd fund represents collective market conviction. Over time, both sides will be measured publicly by the performance of the companies they back.

“We are building more than a funding platform,” said Andrew Prell, Founder of Convergence 4D. “We are building a public competition around conviction, discovery, and startup selection. For too long, founders have had to rely on closed circles and private gatekeepers. This model opens the process and lets the market see, in real time, whether institutional judgment or community insight is better at identifying the next generation of winners.”

Far from being a new idea, the 10 Fund Competition traces back to 2018, when Prell published the underlying framework in Blockchain vs. The VC and The Virtuous Circle of Token Based Investment Funds. The ideas gained traction; in a recorded public forum at a Silicon Valley conference that year, leading economists questioned whether the model represented entirely new principles of token-based economics.

Beyond Capital: Real-World Network Effects For founders, the opportunity goes well beyond capital. Startups entering the competition gain unprecedented visibility, market validation, and compound momentum. They are entering an environment where investor support and market attention accelerate together.

At the center of this model is the crowd fund, serving as a live benchmark. Rather than treating the public as spectators, the structure gives the crowd a meaningful, active role in discovery.

“This is a real test,” Prell added. “Can a well-informed crowd outperform traditional investors? Can collective conviction see opportunities that professional capital overlooks? We believe that question is worth answering publicly.”

As the platform grows, the 10 Fund Competition will become a capital formation engine and a public scoreboard for startup discovery. Droid Investment Funds is currently finalizing the manager lineup and expanding early access for founders ahead of launch.

About Droid Investment Funds

Droid Investment Funds backs startups in gaming, XR, esports, and interactive media. Its 10 Fund Competition brings together professional managers and a crowd fund in a public contest to support high-potential companies.

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