According to Followin, on September 18, Web3 startup Vana announced that it had raised an additional $5 million in new funds, bringing its total funding to $25 million. Coinbase Ventures led this strategic round. Previously, crypto venture capital firm Paradigm led the company's $18 million Series A.
The startup has set out to build a network of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that will use its blockchain technology to address the lack of training data for AI models while providing a way for internet users to earn income. Vana is one of many companies currently trying to build businesses around the intersection of blockchain and artificial intelligence.
Anna Kazlauskas, the company's co-founder and CEO, says that any data that can nourish AI models and help them evolve has value, but private data from internet users of popular social media platforms can be exponentially valuable. DAOs part of Vana’s network will allow members to pool data accumulated from using social media platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn or X and then monetize those datasets by selling them to AI researchers.
