Carva data-layer platform that enables web3 and AI gaming companies, as well as gamers, to control and monetize their data, has raised a $10 million Series A round led by Tribe Capital and IOSG Ventures.
Carv’s new cycle comes about five months later received a strategic investment led by HashKey Capital. The startup did not disclose its valuation and the total funding it has raised so far. In 2022, Carv it was valued at around $40 million when it raised a seed round led by Temasek’s VC arm Vertex Ventures.
Carv’s initial focus is on two key industries, gaming and artificial intelligence, where it sees the greatest opportunity to help users control and monetize their data. Users can choose to provide their data to Carv’s enterprise customers in a way that preserves their privacy and complies with regulations, so companies can use it for training AI models, market research and more.
“While user data has fueled massive economic growth, individuals are not sharing the value created when their information is leveraged to build billion-dollar businesses,” Victor Yu, Carv co-founder and COO, told TechCrunch.
Carv offers three solutions: CARV protocola modular data layer with multi-chain connectivity that links web2 identities to web3 tokens; CARV Play, a cross-platform credential system and game distribution platform. and CARV’s AI Agent, CARA, a personalized gaming assistant that integrates with web3 wallets and can recommend games, activities and projects.
“Carv differentiates itself by putting data ownership and monetization in the hands of users. Any revenue from leveraging user data is shared back with the data creators and themselves,” Yu said. “Additionally, we created a unified user ID standard (ERC-7231) that bridges web2 and web3, enabling seamless data portability over today’s siled solutions.”
Carv has been profitable since December 2023 and generates monthly recurring revenue of more than $1 million, Yu said, adding that the company is also seeing significant month-on-month growth.
The company now has 2.5 million registered users and more than 350 integrated game and AI company partners.
With the new chapter, Carv plans to improve the design of the CARV Protol to ensure that it is scalable and can support a wider range of use cases. CARV Link will also be released to improve on-chain ID card and data authentication and CARV database to manage various types of user data.
Arweave, Consensys (developer of MetaMask and Linea), Draper Dragon, Fenbushi Capital, LiquidX, MARBLEX(the web3 arm of Korean gaming company Netmarble), No Limit Holdings and OKX Ventures also participated in the Series A round.
