A web3 start-up by the name of Vana announced on Wednesday that they successfully raised funding of $5 million, bringing their total funding amount to $25 million. The start-up is focused on building a network of user-owned data pools to promote a shared sense of identity. The strategic round was led by Coinbase Ventures, an investment off-shoot of the crypto exchange giant Coinbase.
Vana is focusing on solving the shortage of training data for AI models by creating a network of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) while allowing users to make money off it. The company is among several other companies that are currently establishing business at the crossroads of blockchain and AI technology.
According to Anna Kazlauskas, the co-founder and CEO of Vana, any user-owned data that can contribute to AI and blockchain is valuable. She focuses on the importance of private data from social media platforms to be exponentially valuable. Members of VANA will now be able to collaborate through DAOs, making it possible to pool more private data collected from Reddit, LinkedIn, and X users. The goal is to monetize the data by selling it to AI researchers. As per Kazlauskas, people can now make money by selling their data which otherwise would be done by data brokers, unethically.
The CEO further shared her optimism which aligns with the Web3 principle of a “public internet” that would bring back the power of owning one’s data. The information generated on platforms such as Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail holds more value as it is often harder for data brokers to access private data from these platforms.
In April, Reddit launched its own DAO utilizing Vana’s blockchain allowing Reddit users to contribute to the data pool and monetize it. According to Kazlauskas, Reddit users who have considerable ‘karma’, a user score assigned by the community, can earn around $300 to $400 by selling their data.