Jack Kubinec

Polychain Capital and Tribe Capital led a $3.5 million seed round in the developer behind Grass, a decentralized web scraping network focused on the creation of decentralized AI models.



Bitscale, Big Brain, Advisors Anonymous, Typhon V, and Mozaik also took part in the seed round for Wynd Network. No Limit Holdings led a pre-seed round in December 2022.&nbsp;



Grass, developed by Wynd Network, is a browser extension app that scrapes the web with individuals’ unused internet bandwidth and rewards users in so-called Grass Points. Wynd then sells its scraped datasets to companies in need of web data, including AI developers.&nbsp;



The company’s model demonstrates one possible application of blockchain tech for <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/artificial-intelligence">AI </a>development, with investors showing heightened interest in finding any overlaps between the two sectors.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/limewire-using-polygon-algorand">New LimeWire AI-powered music platform uses Polygon, Algorand</a>



AI models are often trained with massive amounts of online data scraped or collected from websites. ChatGPT’s base model, for instance, was <a href="https://medium.com/@dlaytonj2/chatgpt-show-me-the-data-sources-11e9433d57e8">trained</a> with petabytes of data collected by Common Crawl between 2016 and 2019.&nbsp;



According to Chris Nguyen, Wynd Network’s chief technology officer, some web scrapers have run into issues whereby websites block data center IP addresses or falsify data to keep competitors from scraping them.&nbsp;



By using browsers operated by individuals, Nguyen said Grass can bypass some of these roadblocks. Wynd does not have access to users’ data, Nguyen said.&nbsp;



Users can <a href="https://wynd-network.gitbook.io/grass/info/referral-program-and-grass-points">earn</a> Grass Points for running the extension and referring other users. This approach has fueled public <a href="https://x.com/uncut_nft/status/1736399866140483892?s=20">speculation</a> about a future token, a reflection of the appetite among decentralized protocol users today.



The Wynd team is also using blockchain to verify where its scraped data comes from.&nbsp;



With off-chain models, special interests could theoretically pay web scrapers to bias the model in their favor, Nguyen argued. He said Wynd can verify its scraped data is legitimate without having to put much data on-chain.&nbsp;



“There&#8217;s not a single blockchain in the world that could support a tiny fraction of the amount of data that is required to train an AI. But what we&#8217;re able to do is cryptographically link a data set to the request. To make the request itself, all I have to do is push a Merkle root on-chain,” Nguyen said.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Wynd is working with two open source-focused AI companies and is in talks with companies outside of AI as well, according to Nguyen.



Potential use cases that merge AI and crypto have generated buzz as of late —&nbsp;as well as investor activity. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/artificial-intelligence-decentralization-web3">Ritual raised $25 million</a> to develop decentralized AI. VC juggernaut a16z crypto’s big ideas list <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/a16z-2024-ideas-list">for 2024 highlighted AI</a> as well.



Those sentiments were echoed by Tekin Salimi, the founder of crypto investment fund dao5. 



“I think investor sentiment is generally very bullish around crypto and AI,” said Salimi. Salimi added that the recent performance of popular AI tokens like Render (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/rndr">RNDR</a>) and Bittensor (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/tao">TAO</a>) — as well as the anticipation of AI emerging as a major force in the broader market — are driving investors towards startups that integrate AI and crypto.



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Wynd Network raises $3.5M from Polychain, Tribe and more for decentralized AI project

Michael Bodley

<div id="highlights-block_62840737dd720" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The company is vying to corner the market in India before expanding to other countries</li>
 <li>The startup plans to make money by charging players fees </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



A mobile, play-to-earn gaming platform keying in on India has introduced the token powering its ecosystem, fresh off a recent funding round.



It’s one of a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/animoca-brands-and-brinc-to-invest-up-to-30m-in-play-to-earn-ecosystem/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">number</a> of blockchain-based <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/mechanism-capital-launches-100m-fund-focused-on-p2e-gaming/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gaming</a> <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/south-korea-could-take-over-the-metaverse-through-gaming-industry-players-say/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">startups</a> raising money as institutional investors look to capitalize on the potential of Web3.



The Rush Gaming Universe, essentially a subsidiary of New Delhi-based crypto startup Hike, is working to move its operations and gameplay fully on-chain by the end of the year via its RUSH, CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal told Blockworks. Mittal shared the <a href="https://whitepaper.rush.network/rush-gaming-universe-v1.0/introduction/master">white paper</a> exclusively with Blockworks. 



The token is set to launch in the first half of this year. 



Rush Gaming’s most recent funding round was led by Jump Capital. Additional investors, including Republic Capital and Tribe Capital, also participated. The size of the round was not disclosed, but it follows a previous fundraise led by Polygon.&nbsp;



Part of the funding has been earmarked for new hires, including economists, engineers and mathematicians.



The ecosystem runs on the Polygon blockchain, with plans to make the platform multi-chain-compatible in the future. 



The idea behind the token is to increase how often gamers play Rush games, with an already healthy appetite demonstrated in the fact that the startup has already divvied out more than $90 million in winnings in a little over a year since its off-chain launch. Those winnings have been split between players on 10 different games.&nbsp;



“We’re entering a new era of gaming, one where players will participate in a new kind of game economy where they are also owners of the networks and economies they help create,” the white paper states. “Through the power of smart contracts, players now have the opportunity to play games and generate digital assets based on the outcome of gameplay and become true owners.”



Key to the venture, according to Mittal, is producing games that are actually fun to play — including sharp graphics, solid storytelling and innovative gameplay.&nbsp;



While crypto-native play-to-earn game designers theoretically have an advantage over blockbuster AAA game developers working on crypto-based projects, the gameplay of many of the results pales by comparison to those created by legacy game studios.



“The crypto audience cares about making money,” Mittal said. “But what about the real gamers who love playing fantastic games? From that perspective, let’s go out and make some fun games first that people love.”



In order to play, RUSH gamers will purchase NFTs that serve as avatars — which can be traded on the secondary market and upgraded. Players deposit fiat — Indian rupees — which are used to buy RUSH tokens, which serve as governance tokens. Players can also stake RUSH to earn rewards. 



The ecosystem includes the platform’s wallet. Plans for a decentralized exchange are in the works, and a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is also a possibility. A metaverse with virtual land sales is also in the planning stages.&nbsp;



The company makes money by charging a cut of play-to-earn transactions: right now, it&#8217;s up to 10% for fiat transactions, with plans to impose crypto fees once the RUSH token launches. 



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India’s Play-to-earn Gaming Startup Unveils Token on Heels of Fundraise

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_621eabc4c01c6" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Led by Archetype, raise investors include Coinbase Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, Solana Ventures and ParaFi</li>
 <li>Parcl has 15 full-time employees but hopes to expand its staff to 25 by the end of the year</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Parcl, a startup that digitizes real estate investments via the Solana blockchain, raised a $4.1 million seed round Tuesday, earmarked for marketing and staffing.



The New York-based company has 15 full-time employees but aims to expand its staff to 25 by year-end, co-founder and CEO Trevor Bacon told Blockworks.



“It&#8217;s a tough hiring environment, but we&#8217;ve managed with our team and vision to have been able to attract some of the best talent,” Bacon said.



Parcl’s mission is to give everyone a chance to invest in real estate, a market which has historically high barriers to entry, but consistent returns.



Parcl’s protocol allows users to invest in a digital square foot of real-live property via its price index, which replicates the price per square foot in various neighborhoods. The platform has transaction fees, but no minimum investment requirement.



“[For example], Tribeca will have a price per square foot of like $2,000, and we&#8217;ll call that a ‘parcl,’” he added. “‘A parcl’ is one square foot of any given neighborhood, and the blockchain is what allows you to create those assets and trade them. It’s basically a way to gain exposure to real estate.”



Led by Archetype, raise investors include Coinbase Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, Solana Ventures, ParaFi, Shima Capital, Slow Ventures, Tribe Capital, Not Boring Capital and FJ Labs.



Parcl will launch a testnet, along with the release and sale of a non-fungible token (NFT) collection in the coming weeks. All of the proceeds, Bacon said, will go toward buying someone a house.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



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