Vana Raises $5 Million to Expand User-Owned Data Pools

Vana, a web3 startup focused on creating a network of user-owned data pools, announced on Wednesday that it has raised an additional $5 million, bringing its total funding to $25 million.

Funding Details

The latest funding round was led by Coinbase Ventures, with previous investments from the notable crypto VC Paradigm, which contributed $18 million in a Series A round.

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)

Vana’s mission is to build a network of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) using blockchain technology. These DAOs aim to tackle the issue of insufficient training data for AI models while enabling internet users to earn income from their data contributions. Vana is among various companies exploring the intersection of blockchain and artificial intelligence.

Value of User Data

Co-founder and CEO Anna Kazlauskas emphasizes the value of private user data from popular social media platforms. The DAOs in Vana’s network allow members to pool and monetize data from platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn, and X by selling it to AI researchers. Kazlauskas points out that public internet data has largely been captured, making private data significantly more valuable due to its protection.

Launch of Reddit DAO

In April, the first DAO utilizing Vana’s blockchain was launched, allowing Reddit users to contribute their platform history to a monetizable data pool. Kazlauskas mentioned that Reddit users with high karma could earn between $300 to $400. Although Vana envisions a network with more than a dozen DAOs, the Reddit DAO is the only fully operational one, as the company’s mainnet is not yet live. Approximately 140,000 users have joined the Reddit DAO.

Future Prospects

Kazlauskas sees potential for individuals to become stakeholders in AI through Vana’s network, stating, “It’s about owning a stake in AI.” She believes it’s more appealing to offer users a stake in an AI model or dataset rather than simply compensating them for their data.