Quick take:
- The company raised $2.5 million in the second tranche led by Animoca Brands.
- Signum Capital, Ankr Network, and CMS Holdings also joined the round with Tekin Salimi and Meltem Demirors joining as angel investors.
- Root Protocol aims to make access to different Web3 platforms a seamless process according to CoinDesk.
Web3 identity platform Root Protocol has closed a $10 million funding raised across two seed rounds. The fundraising values the digital identity aggregator platform at $100 million.
Animoca Brands led the second tranche of $2.5 million with participation from Signum Capital, Ankr Network, and CMS Holdings, while DAO5 founder Tekin Salimi and former CoinShares Chief Strategy Officer Meltem Demirors joined as angel investors.
Root Protocol plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate the development of its “one-stop” digital identity aggregator platform to make access to different Web3 platforms seamless.
Commenting on the fundraising, a spokesperson of Root Protocol told CoinDesk: “Securing $10 million was indeed an accomplishment for a Web3 project, especially considering the challenges many projects faced during bear markets. The funding rounds for Root drew significant attention due to the involvement of various investment ventures and long-term relationship with our partners.”
This fundraising comes at a time when funding for Web3 startups is declining. According to CrunchBase, Web3 startups raised a total of $1.1 billion in Q4, 2023, making the eighth consecutive quarterly decline in venture capital injection in the sector.
Digital identity remains one of the most attractive use cases for Web3, with some of the biggest technology and finance companies including JPMorgan and MasterCard already involved.
JPMorgan’s blockchain subsidiary Onyx was the first of the two to pounce, according to an announcement in October 2022, while MasterCard announced its partnership with Aptos Labs in April last year to develop a Web3 identity framework for Apps.
Several Web3 identity startups including Nametag, Carv and Lens Protocol announced significant fundraisings over the past two years.
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