By
Steve Muchoki
April 19th, 2024
Earlier last year, the Avalanche Foundation and Op3n announced a $100 million initiative for Web 3.0 developers to build projects on the Avalanche network.
OP3N, a Web 3.0 AI-powered social platform, has announced that it raised $28 million in a Series A funding round at a valuation of $100 million. According to the announcement, the fresh capital will be used to further develop its chat-based product dubbed Superapp application, as well as grow its leadership team. Reportedly, the Superapp application is currently in beta mode and has been tested with different communities.
OP3N Funding Round
The Superapp aims to bridge the gap between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 by implementing blockchain and decentralized technologies into Web 2.0-friendly interfaces. Moreover, the Superapp application will be able to add audio, video and mixed media content to on-chain interactions so users can have a “one-stop” experience, according to Jaeson Ma, co-CEO of OP3N.
“I wanted to make a connection for creators, chats and commerce in one place,” Ma noted. “It’s a Web 3.0 version of WhatsApp meets Amazon, or WeChat meets Alibaba.”
The funding round was led by Animoca Brands and included investments from Dragonfly Capital, SuperScrypt, Creative Artists Agency and New Enterprise Associates’ Connect Ventures, Republic Crypto, Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund, Galaxy Digital and Warner Music Interactive. Additional investors include GSR Markets, The Spartan Group, BRV Capital Management and NBA player Russell Westbrook, among others.
“These are all long-term players and people who are here to stay and bring strategic synergy for us,” Ma said of the investors. “We’re here to build a product that I believe will hopefully, in two years, become the decentralized Facebook, YouTube, Spotify or WhatsApp for Web 3.0.”
OP3N and the Market Outlook
Earlier last year, the Avalanche Foundation and Op3n announced a $100 million initiative for Web 3.0 developers to build projects on the Avalanche network. As such, OP3N has managed to collaborate with key content creators to steer forward the future of Web 3.0 development. Founded in 2021 as a subsidiary of EST Media Holdings, OP3N empowers artists to engage with their fans through exclusive token-gated access directly.
In 2021, OP3N closed its $10 million seed round from investors like Goodwater Capital, Soma Capital, 500 Global, WhaleShark, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan and The Sandbox co-founder and COO Sébastien Borget, to name a few.
As a result, the company has learned a lot of crucial details to produce competitive Web3 products. Moreover, there are dozens of blockchains with deep liquidity out there developing similar Web3 products for the same market.