Sony Innovation Fund, the corporate venture capital arm of Sony Group, has invested an additional $13 million in Startale Group, the web3 infrastructure firm and Sony joint-venture partner, according to a Wednesday statement.
Led by CEO Sota Watanabe, who founded Astar Network, Startale developed and delivered Soneium, an Ethereum layer 2 blockchain, in collaboration with Sony Block Solutions Labs.
With the new funding, Startale’s total capital raised has grown to $20 million.
The Singapore-based blockchain infrastructure company secured $3.5 million from Sony in a seed round in September 2023 and raised a $3.5 million extension from Dahua Venture Capital and Samsung Next in 2024.
Led by CEO Sota Watanabe, who also founded Astar Network, Startale developed and delivered Soneium, an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain, through its joint venture with Sony Group, known as Sony Block Solutions Labs.
Since its mainnet launch last January, Soneium has processed over 500 million transactions and attracted 5.4 million active wallets, as of the latest data. The blockchain hosts more than 250 live dApps.
“Startale has been an important partner to Sony since the early days of Soneium,” said Watanabe. “Our vision is to bring the world on-chain, and Sony’s continued support strengthens our ability to deliver the infrastructure required to realize that vision at global scale.”
Kazuhito Hadano, CEO of Sony Ventures Corporation, said Startale is “focused on enabling new value flows built on on-chain technologies” and that Sony looks forward to supporting the company’s ambitions through their ongoing collaboration.
Startale operates Astar Network, Japan’s largest public blockchain, and has launched consumer products including the Startale App and Startale USD (USDSC), a stablecoin designed as a settlement layer across the Soneium ecosystem.
