carvinga data-layer platform that enables Web3 gaming and AI companies and gamers to control and monetize their data has raised a $10 million Series A round led by Tribe Capital and IOSG Ventures .
Carv’s new round comes about five months later It received a strategic investment led by HashKey Capital. The startup did not disclose its valuation or the total funding it has raised so far. In 2022 Carv was worth around $40 million when it raised a seed round led by Temasek’s VC arm Vertex Ventures.
Carv’s initial focus is on two key industries, gaming and AI, where the company sees the greatest opportunity to help users control and monetize their data. Users can choose to make their data available to Carv’s corporate customers in a way that protects their privacy and complies with regulations, so companies can use it for training AI models, market research and more.
“While user data has driven tremendous economic growth, individuals do not share the value created by their information is exploited to build billion-dollar companies,” Carv co-founder and COO Victor Yu told TechCrunch.
Carv offers three solutions: CARV protocola modular data layer with cross-chain connectivity that connects Web2 identities to Web3 tokens; CARV game, a cross-platform credentialing system and game distribution platform; and CARV’s AI agent CARA, a personalized gaming assistant that integrates with web3 wallets and can recommend games, activities and projects.
“Carv stands out because it puts data ownership and monetization rights in the hands of users. All revenue generated from the use of user data will be returned to the data creators and themselves,” Yu said. “In addition, we have created a unified user ID standard (ERC-7231), which connects Web2 and Web3 and enables seamless data portability compared to today’s isolated solutions.”
Carv has been profitable since December 2023 and generates more than $1 million in monthly recurring revenue, Yu said, adding that the company also experienced significant month-over-month growth.
The company Now has 2.5 million registered users and over 350 integrated gaming and AI corporate partners.
With the new capital, Carv plans to improve the design of its CARV protocol to ensure it is scalable and can support a wider range of use cases. CARV Link is also being introduced to improve on-chain identity and data authentication, as well as a CARV database to manage various types of user data.
Arweave, Consensys (developers of MetaMask and Linea), Draper Dragon, Fenbushi Capital, LiquidX, MARBLEX(No Limit Holdings and OKX Ventures also participated in the Series A round.