Lens Protocol, a web3 product aimed toward making a decentralized social networking ecosystem, has raised $15 million, its group informed TechCrunch completely. The protocol is being constructed by Aave, a web3 expertise agency, that permits customers to lend and borrow crypto tokens from each other, amongst different issues (Aave has raised a known $49 million to date.)
The protocol is attempting to combine the very best of the net as we all know it, however with a give attention to the brand new improvements web3 to make the web “extra equitable, honest and democratic for social media networks,” Aave Firms CEO Stani Kulechov mentioned.
Kulechov mentioned it’s vital that future infrastructure for web and social media networks isn’t owned by giant entities like Meta, which owns Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp. When there’s a strong incumbent, it creates much less say for customers and fewer selection as nicely, not simply in web3 or on the web, however in any business.
The objective of the newly-flush Lens Protocol is to permit particular person customers to have extra management over their knowledge, and the way it’s shared in accordance with Kulechov. “We need to construct a social media community that doesn’t solely profit the customers however everybody who contributes to it like builders as nicely.”
The $15 million that Lens has raised will probably be used to assist develop the protocol’s ecosystem and proceed its growth, Kulechov mentioned. There is no such thing as a valuation accessible.
The contemporary capital spherical was led by IDEO CoLab Ventures with participation from enterprise capital corporations like Common Catalyst, Variant and Blockchain Capital in addition to DAOs like Flamingo DAO, DAOJones, Punk DAO, DAO5 and International Coin Analysis.
There have been additionally angel buyers concerned together with Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams, OpenSea co-founder Alex Atallah, entrepreneur and investor Balaji Srinivasan, Sandbox co-founder Sébastien Borget and Polygon Co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, amongst others.
Lens has been in beta since Might 2022 and has granted entry to a handful of customers to date. “Our roadmap goes to proceed to be on a beta part for some time and down the road our objective is to fully open the protocol entry, however for that to occur the infrastructure and ecosystem has to develop additional,” Kulechov mentioned.
It hopes to be a “impartial and versatile” protocol that permits builders to construct varied use instances starting from gaming to social media, in accordance with the CEO. And plenty of desktop and cell purposes are at the moment being constructed by builders like Orb, Riff and Enso Collective, Kulechov famous.
“We’re filling the ecosystem with purposes which might be acquainted to conventional social media, [and] we envision a future the place all these purposes and algorithms share monetization that comes from completely different use instances and options,” he mentioned.
In the long run, Kulechov hopes the protocol will clear up issues that social media customers and firms alike face, not simply within the crypto house, but in addition generally markets. “We don’t have all of the solutions however that’s the fantastic thing about web3, it’s an surroundings the place everybody can contribute and that’s the place we need to go.”
“What’s most useful for us, we need to create a protocol that’s open for contribution,” Kulechov mentioned. “A protocol the place we will’t make all the selections for customers and builders, the place we will have an open platform and dialogue on how Lens Protocol can evolve sooner or later.”
There are different crypto social networks that exist like BitClout, which has over 200 purposes constructed on its blockchain DeSo in accordance with its website, amongst others. There are additionally crypto wallets and purposes like Thred, that aim to a service similar to Yelp, and supply easy-to-use interfaces. Whereas they’ve gained some traction from crypto gamers and customers, there appears to be little intentional initiative to develop exterior of the ecosystem thus far.
It’s vital to differentiate between networks and protocols – Lens is constructing the latter, that means that any developer can construct on prime of its system. Lens is just like present web protocols like HTTPs, IP protocol or e-mail, Kulechov mentioned. TechCrunch views it as just like a platform, in conventional Internet phrases.
To ensure that web3 social protocols and networks to achieve actual adoption, they should create accessible choices that may attraction to a bigger, extra various, and fewer crypto-insider group. Whether or not or not Lens – or one other group – can handle the feat is but to be decided.
