Gensyn, a blockchain-based marketplace for compute power to train machine learning models, raised $43M in a round led by a16z. Gensyn aims to enable startups to compete against major tech companies with large data centers and substantial computing power in the AI arms race. Per a16z, “By tapping into the long tail of idle, machine-learning-capable compute around the world — such as in smaller data centers, personal gaming computers, M1 and M2 Macs, and eventually even smartphones — Gensyn can potentially 10-100x the available compute power for machine learning.”
We are very excited about the potential use cases for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePINs) like Gensyn. Although AI has become the hottest topic in tech since OpenAI released ChatGPT on November 30th 2022, machine learning models come with very high hardware costs. If Web3 technology can be used to substantially lower the costs for an AI startup to develop and train a model, we might be looking at one of the most exciting mainstream use cases of blockchain technology yet. Keep an eye on our website and Twitter page because we will begin publishing research on DePINs very soon.
The full list of the institutional investments that Ruceto tracked last week is below. Links to the target company website, investment announcement, and token info are provided via hyperlinks on the Target Name, $ Raised, and Token columns respectively.
| Target Name | $ Raised | Lead Investors | Description | Token |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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A16z |
A marketplace protocol for compute for AI workloads that connects developers building machine learning models with anyone who can contribute compute power for training those models |
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Investcorp |
Spanish crypto exchange that is registered with the Bank of Spain |
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Polychain Capital, Polygon Ventures, and others |
Builder of a protocol the company calls, "the HTTP of Web3" which enables "applications that can securely interact with users, tokens, and other applications on any chain" |
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Salesforce Ventures |
AI-powered NFT data, analytics, and insights provider for builders, brands, and enterprises |
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OSS Capital |
Tokenized social network that enables researchers to earn rewards for openly sharing their work, collaborate, and receive feedback |
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Blockchange Ventures |
Web3 collector community and marketplace |
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Y Combinator, NAZCA, Global Founders Capital, Goodwater Capital, SOMA Capital, Amasia, Creditease, Dentsu Ventures, MS&AD, Orange DAO, and more |
Payment solutions provider for wallets, wallet-as-a-service providers, marketplaces, and games |
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Tribe Capital and Kraken Ventures |
Multi-chain risk and collateral management protocol |
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Superscrypt |
Utilizes decentralized identity, data, and finance primitives into a full-stack solution that allows anyone to claim anything about anything, while incentivizing attestations of useful truths, encouraging people and machines to share their relevant knowledge, thoughts, and opinions with the world |
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White Star Capital |
Crypto payments company |
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Reciprocal Ventures |
Serverless development platform on Solana |
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