SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CARV, the largest modular data layer for gaming and AI, today announced a $10M Series A on the heels of its recent strategic funding round. With this new backing from industry leaders, CARV will double down on building the largest modular data layer for gaming and AI, maximizing data innovation while ensuring individuals can share the value created in a user-owned internet.
The Series A was led by Tribe Capital and IOSG Ventures, with participation from key investors such as Consensys (developer of MetaMask and Linea), OKX Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, No Limit Holdings, Draper Dragon, Arweave, LiquidX, MARBLEX (the web3 arm of Netmarble), and more. This adds to the notable investors already on CARV’s cap table, including HashKey Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, and Temasek Holding’s subsidiary, Vertex Ventures.
“The backing from these top investors underscores their confidence in our mission to reshape data ownership and value distribution,” said Victor Yu, CARV co-founder. “For too long, users’ data has fueled economic growth without them sharing the value created. The AI boom has increased demand for high-quality data for model training, but brands face challenges targeting users and ethically sourcing data amid tightening regulations. CARV empowers users to own, contribute, and monetize their data, capturing opportunities from the adtech reshuffling and AI revolution by putting them back in control.”
CARV specializes in providing gaming and AI development with holistic, high-quality data reinforced with human feedback in a regulatory-compliant, trustless manner. There are three parts to the company’s solution.
First, CARV Protocol is a modular cross-chain data layer encompassing components for authentication, storage, processing, and monetization. Adhering to the ERC-7231 standard recently greenlit by the Ethereum Community, CARV ID aggregates over 1 million users' web2 and web3 identities, promoting data self-sovereignty.
Meanwhile, CARV Play is the cross-platform credentialing system and the largest web3 gaming distribution and social platform. With its average daily active wallet count exceeding 500,000 over the past quarter, CARV Play is among the top three most active ecosystems on chains like Linea, opBNB, zkSync, and Ronin, offering an enhanced gaming experience for 2.5M gamers to share data, build credentials, play games, and earn rewards. About 30% of all existing web3 games have already been onboarded onto the platform, from MARBLEX and Shrapnel to Off the Grid, Pixelmon, and Pixels.
Finally, CARV’s AI Agent, CARA, is the personalized gaming assistant with seamless integration of web3 wallets, TON-based games, and social networking. Based on the player’s game and platform data, CARA can recommend games, activities, projects, and airdrops.
“The result of our ecosystem is an incentive-aligned infrastructure that reimagines the internet, placing individuals at the core of their digital interactions with the ability to obtain a lifetime membership for passive income. We can’t wait for what’s ahead,” said Yu.
“CARV stands out as a visionary in leveraging blockchain technology to enhance user agency and privacy in the digital realm,” said Boris Revsin, Managing Director of Tribe Capital. “Their rapid growth and substantial user engagement speak volumes of their impact in the gaming and AI sectors. We are thrilled to support CARV’s journey as they continue to innovate and lead in the intersection of gaming and data.”
“We're supporting CARV because its revolutionary approach is reshaping the way we manage decentralized data,” said Jeff Ren, Partner of OKX Ventures. “CARV’s modular cross-chain protocol and ID aggregation solutions cultivate data self-sovereignty and integrity, all while emphasizing security and efficiency. We’re excited about the vast potential this partnership holds and are eager to see how the synergy between OKX’s Web3 product suite and CARV’s advanced cross-chain data layer will unfold.”
“CARV is the leading platform enabling gamers to share value captured from their data in a consent-based, privacy-preserving manner while also solving the game discovery problem in web3,” said Michael Camarda, Sr Director of Corporate Development at Consensys. “They have been a key partner for Linea since day one and we are excited to support them on the next stage of their journey.”
Looking ahead, CARV is preparing to launch its node sale, aimed at enhancing decentralization and bolstering trustworthiness across every layer of its protocol. To stay up-to-date with the latest from CARV, including the distribution of 100,000 light nodes in May, visit @carv_official.
About CARV
CARV is the largest modular data layer for gaming and AI, revolutionizing how data is used and shared. For more information, visit carv.io
About Tribe Capital
Tribe Capital is a venture capital firm focused on capturing a perpetual edge in venture and crypto using data science. The team is made up of investors, engineers and scientists who use data to model venture-backed private companies. The San Francisco-based firm has approximately $1.6 billion in assets under management and has made notable investments in Apollo.io, Carta, Docker, Kraken, Berachain, Eclipse, Akash. To learn more, visit tribecap.co
About IOSG Ventures
IOSG Ventures is a pioneering crypto fund that invests in the future of Web3. The fund is passionate about investing in crypto-native paradigms that have the potential to transform the future of the industry, from infra to middleware, security, gaming, and social platforms. To learn more, visit iosg.vc
Contacts
Victor Yu
vito@carv.io