Belgium-based web3 startup Venly raises over €21 million ($23 million) in Series A funding round led by Courtside Ventures.
Venly’s series A also got participation from Transcend Fund, Fortino Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Tioga Capital, HTGF (High-Tech Gründerfonds), Plug and Play, Leadblock Partners, Imec.istart, David Majert, Powerhouse Capital, and Alpaca VC.
What Venly Does?
Venly (previously Arkane Network) is a web3 technology startup that offers services such as wallets, NFTs, and marketplaces. It makes it simple for businesses, games, and platforms to adopt blockchain technology such as digital wallets for their customers.
Venly offers tools and products enabling Web2 businesses to leverage Web3 technology and integrate it seamlessly into their own business processes without sacrificing user experience or security.
According to the company, their intuitive API platform delivers groundbreaking innovation to prominent companies in the blockchain gaming space, including The Sandbox, Aavegotchi, Bondly, Shopify, and other industry leaders.
Tim Dierckxsens, CEO of Venly, said:
“The problem today is that most developers and end-users have difficulty interacting with Web3 technology. It needs to be more aligned with Web2 usability, which is exactly what the Venly platform provides. Our APIs and services allow a Web2 company to seamlessly integrate with Web3. Moreover, we want to focus on our marketplace for the mainstream users. The Venly NFT marketplace is easier to use than any other platform out there.”
Venly to focus on Gaming and eCommerce
Venly plans to use the new capital to develop new Web3 products, with a close focus on gaming as well as eCommerce.
Venly revealed that it will focus on deeper platform integrations within the Gaming industry, so that game studios and publishers can leverage Web3 through a fully compliant no-code solution.
The next focus will be eCommerce, which is a natural fit for Venly, which has already released a sophisticated Shopify integration.
Venly will also develop a game studio and Web3 startup accelerator track to serve the broader blockchain ecosystem. Startups will be able to use Venly licences at a reduced price while receiving assistance and funding from the Venly Accelerator team and ecosystem of partners. The Venly marketplace will be expanded and developed as the third focus area, with the goal of making it “the most user-friendly and widely-used choice on the market.”
Venly said that it will focus on bringing top talnts in the next months to continue pushing innovation, as well as forging new collaborations with industry heavyweights. In this regard, the opening of the accelerator track (dubbed “Venly Accelerator”) will also result in new relationships.
Venly plans to incorporate sophisticated gaming SDKs (Software Development Kits) on the tech side, with gaming being its most immediate priority owing to fast scalability prospects.
Kai Bond, Partner at Courtside Ventures, said:
“The Venly platform provides game developers the ability to easily launch Web3 experiences. We fundamentally believe that the next huge area of growth in the NFT ecosystem will come from mainstream users interacting with their favorite IP.”
The company will then work to improve its marketplace for a better user experience. Venly is expressing its long-term focus on eCommerce by strengthening eCommerce integrations (such as the one that allows Venly users to sell NFTs through Shopify).
Venly will also introduce the VENS Token, an internal token designed to encourage Venly Market users to stay loyal and engaged.
The said that it will continue to make strenuous efforts to meet compliance requirements in different countries. Compliance has been a major issue for crypto firms.
Read Also: Electric Capital Raises $1 Billion to Advance Web3 Economy
