Quick Look:
- SendingNetwork completes $7.5 million Seed Extension, raising $20 million.
- Aims to revolutionise online communications with a new TCP/IP stack and “decentralised router.”
- Plans to grow its team and launch its mainnet by Q1 2025.
- Targets a multibillion-dollar market with its decentralised application, SendingMe.
- Strong investor support from firms like Nomad Capital and Web3.com Ventures.
SendingNetwork, a trailblazer in decentralised web technologies, has announced a successful fundraising total of $20 million. The project recently completed a $7.5 million Seed Extension funding round with contributions from several prominent investors. It included Nomad Capital, Symbolic Capital, and Web3.com Ventures. Besides, this infusion of capital underscores the high confidence in SendingNetwork’s mission to revamp online communication infrastructures.
Web3 Shift: Founders Move from Dolphin Browser
The brains behind SendingNetwork are Mason Yang and Joeyz Yu. They previously co-founded MoboTap—the company behind the popular Dolphin Browser—which ChangYou.com acquired for $91 million in 2014. After witnessing Ethereum’s surge and the limitations within traditional web2 structures, Yang and Yu launched SendingNetwork in 2022 with a clear shift towards leveraging web3 technologies.
Revolutionising IP: Web3’s New Dawn
SendingNetwork aims to decentralise online communications by developing a new TCP/IP stack incorporating web3 protocols. This transformative move includes the replacement of traditional IP addresses with wallet addresses. Therefore introducing what SendingNetwork calls a “decentralised router.” This innovation is poised to enhance streaming, improve CDN performance, and facilitate faster-decentralised storage retrieval. At the core of this technology is Linea, a robust Ethereum Layer 2 solution developed by Consensys. Moreover, it supports all Ethereum virtual machine-compatible chains.
Expanding in a Billion-Dollar Market
Alongside its core technological developments, SendingNetwork is pioneering SendingMe, a decentralised application focused on chatting, socialising, and trading. The venture has positioned itself within a market with a total capitalisation of billions and sees about $15 million in annual revenues. The project’s expansion strategy is aggressive, with plans to increase its team size beyond the current 30+ members by hiring more developers, particularly as the expected launch of its mainnet in Q1 2025 approaches.
Decentralised Networking: Industry’s Next Big Hit
The decentralised personal internet networking (DePIN) sector is nascent but faces competition from established web2 giants. Industry experts, such as Pranav Kanade, express optimism about DePIN, stating that it holds the potential to become a platform hosting a highly popular app with a billion users. Similarly, Mason Yang, a co-founder, shares a bold perspective, indicating that they are just beginning to disrupt the industry.
Rob Hadick, a well-known commentator on web protocols, highlights a significant challenge: most protocols are limited not by supply but by a shortage of demand. This underscores the necessity for innovative applications that foster user adoption and showcase the tangible benefits of decentralised technologies.
Venture Capital Flocks to Web3 Innovations
The enthusiasm for innovative combinations of crypto and emerging technologies is palpable among venture capitalists. David Garcia from Borderless Capital emphasised the potential within several domains, noting a particular interest in the convergence of Crypto and AI, as well as mobility, mapping, wireless networks, and digital resources. The recent funding round indicates confidence in SendingNetwork’s roadmap and its ability to revolutionise traditional communication paradigms through web3 innovations.
As SendingNetwork moves closer to its mainnet launch and continues to scale up its operations, the industry watches closely, anticipating the next steps of a project poised at the cutting edge of web3 developments.