YZi Labs Launches First Phase of Atlas Scout Program
YZi Labs has announced the launch of the first phase of the Atlas Scout program, recruiting four students from Stanford University, Yale University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Los Angeles, to participate in early investments in the fields of Web3, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology.
The program provides students with practical opportunities for project discovery, preliminary research, due diligence, and investment judgment, and encourages them to organize entrepreneurial communities and technology exchanges on campus. Related investment opportunities can receive a maximum of $1 million in indicative funding, while also opening access to an ecosystem of over 300 portfolio companies.
Students can independently conduct campus activities, including gathering entrepreneurial teams and discovering potential projects, and receive guidance and resource support from YZi Labs. Eligible entrepreneurial teams have the opportunity to connect with the EASY Residency program or further explore investment cooperation.
YZi Labs stated that many entrepreneurs have begun exploring in laboratories, open-source projects, and campus communities, and peers often identify their potential earlier. The program establishes connections through the student network before projects gain widespread attention and cultivates investors who can identify trends early.
This arrangement is an early project access channel through campus networks. Students discover projects through their own networks and submit judgments, while capital and resources are allocated by YZi Labs; the beneficiaries are the entrepreneurial teams that gain early access and resource connections, while the burden falls on early projects that rely on traditional financing paths and have not yet entered campus networks. Currently, it is an indicative funding and network opening, and specific investments have not yet materialized.
Source: Public Information
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YZi Labs is the renamed investment institution formerly known as Binance Labs, with a scale of approximately $10 billion, primarily focusing on Web3, AI, and biotechnology. The institution has previously operated projects like EASY Residency, forming a pathway from early engagement to subsequent support. By incorporating students into the Scout role, this initiative further advances project discovery nodes based on the existing ecosystem.
In terms of capital pathways, the plan aims to connect project leads from campus to the institution's existing resources through a maximum of $1 million in indicative funding and a network of over 300 portfolio companies. Students are responsible for discovery and preliminary judgment, while final decisions are still made by YZi Labs. The flow of resources is directed from the campus network to the institutional investment pipeline for early projects, and then back to entrepreneurs through mentorship, ecosystem connections, and potential follow-up investments.
Similar cases include other venture capital institutions establishing student Scout or campus fund programs at universities to access projects that have not yet entered formal financing channels. YZi Labs is currently in the stage of delegating part of the discovery rights to campus nodes to supplement the traditional analyst pathway's coverage in early identification.
This essentially represents a restructuring of the industry chain. The project discovery phase shifts from traditional financing channels to campus laboratories, open-source communities, and student networks. The mechanism is that peers have earlier access to unpublished ideas and technological explorations, and institutions convert this time difference into accessible investment leads through the Scout role, while utilizing existing portfolio networks to provide subsequent resources to selected projects, forming a closed loop of discovery and support.
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Campus networks make initial contacts, capital follows
Indicative funding opens the door, decision-making power remains with the institution
Early ideas are identified before formal financing