SendingNetwork, a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) project focused on Web3 communications, has raised $7.5 million in a seed expansion funding round.
Several investors joined the round, including Nomad Capital, Symbolic Capital, Web3.com Ventures, Galxe, SWC Global, Balaji Srinivasan and Yield Guild Games co-founder Gabby Dizon, SendingNetwork said Tuesday.
The round was structured as a simple future equity (SAFE) agreement and closed last October, Mason Yang, co-founder of SendingNetwork, told The Block. He declined to comment on the valuation.
The seed expansion round brings SendingNetwork’s total funding to $20 million following a $12.5 million seed round early last year.
What is SendingNetwork?
SendingNetwork is a DePIN project that aims to decentralize communications by creating a new Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack. TCP/IP is a set of protocols that govern communication over the Internet, facilitating the transmission of data between devices.
“As we rebuild the TCP/IP stack, integrating it with application layer protocols such as XMPP/SMTP/HTTP/FTP but starting with web3 XMPP [extensible messaging and presence protocol]this opens up many possibilities including improved streaming, improved CDN [content delivery network] performance and faster decentralized storage retrieval,” Yang said.
Overall, SendingNetwork aims to provide a more efficient, secure, and flexible communications experience for developers and users. For example, he is developing a “decentralized router” which he says will replace IP addresses with wallet addresses.
Moving from web2 to web3
Before founding SendingNetwork in 2022, Yang and his co-founder Joeyz Yu created MoboTap, the company behind the Dolphin Internet browser, one of the first Android browsers, which has more than 200 million users worldwide . Dolphin was majority acquired by Nasdaq-listed ChangYou.com in 2014 for $91 million.
After acquiring Dolphin, Yang and Yu turned their attention to web3 in 2022, “inspired by the rise of Ethereum and thinking about the challenges faced when the Dolphin browser was delisted,” Yang said. Google removed Dolphin from the app store in 2022, citing API access violations. However, user protests led to Dolphin’s reinstatement, Yang said, adding that the experience taught him how important community support was and reinforced his confidence in Web3’s promise of decentralization.
SendingNetwork is built on Linea, Consensys’ Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain, but it will technically support all chains compatible with Ethereum virtual machines, Yang said.
SendingNetwork is also developing SendingMe, a decentralized app that will combine chat, socializing and commerce, giving users full control over their social layer, Yang said.
SendingNetwork Launch and Plans
SendingNetwork is expected to launch multiple testnets this year and a mainnet in the first quarter of 2025.
There are currently more than 30 people working for SendingNetwork, and the company is looking to expand the team by hiring more developers, Yang said.
The Web3 communications vertical is still in its “very early stages,” Yang said, adding that he does not view his competitors as rivals but “only friends or allies” and that one of those allies is XMTP Labs, which builds decentralized communication. protocol.
SendingNetwork’s real competitors are “the Web2 giants, who control enormous bases of users, data, computing power and capital.” We’re just taking our first steps to shake them up,” Yang said.
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