Paradigm-Backed Vana Secures $5M Strategic Round Led By Coinbase Ventures

Vana is building a network of DAOs that use its blockchain technology to pay users for sharing data that is used to train AI models.
Image source: vana.org

Quick take:

  • Vana allows users to pool their data from social media platforms including Reddit, LinkedIn or X and monetise it by selling to AI researchers.
  • Although the network plans to support more than a dozen DAOs, Reddit DAO is the only one that is fully integrated.
  • Vana co-founder and CEO, Anna Kazlauskas claims Reddit users with much “karma” could earn as much as $300 to $400.

Vana, a blockchain platform that allows users to sell their social media data to AI trainers has raised $5 million in a strategic round led by Coinbase Ventures. The fundraising brings the total raised by the Web3 startup to $25 million, following an $18 million Series A round led by Paradigm.

The company is building a network of decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) that use its blockchain to pay users for sharing data for AI training models. The platform allows users to pool their data from social media platforms including Reddit, LinkedIn or X and monetise it by selling to AI researchers.

Although the network plans to support more than a dozen DAOs, Reddit DAO is the only one that is fully integrated. Vana co-founder and CEO, Anna Kazlauskas claims Reddit users with much “karma” could earn as much as $300 to $400, The Block reported.

Kazlauskas said approximately 140,000 users joined the Reddit DAO, adding that Vana’s network of DAOs could allow people to become stakeholders in AI models. 

“It’s about owning a stake in AI,” she said. “What we’ve seen too, from a user-adoption perspective, it’s much more compelling or interesting to give someone a stake in an AI model or a stake in this collective dataset versus ‘Let me just give you $20 cash for your data.'”

Vana joins a growing list of Web3 companies investing in the intersection of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. AI models rely on user data to become more efficient. While there is a lot of information available online, Kazlauskas believes leveraging information from secure platforms like Gmail, X, Reddit, and LinkedIn has considerably more value to AI researchers because the data is protected.

Blockchain technology allows DAOs to use this data without breaching user privacy rights, whilst also giving users an opportunity to earn.


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