The Easy Company, a startup focusing on building a consumer layer for the decentralized web, has raised $14.2 million in a seed round for its “social” crypto wallet, which seeks to help onboard more mainstream audiences into the Web3 ecosystem.
As reported by TechCrunch, the seed funding round was supported by a diverse group of investors, including venture capital firms Lobby Capital, Relay Ventures and 6th Man Ventures, as well as Tapestry, Upside and Scribble. Additionally, the round featured angel investors with backgrounds in traditional social media and Web3, including former executives from Instagram, Novi, Airbnb, Twitter, Uber, OpenTable and Eventbrite.
8/ Easy is backed by Lobby Capital, Relay Ventures, 6th Man Ventures, Tapestry VC, Upside Partnership, Scribble Ventures and other experienced social and web3 Investors.
— The Easy Company (@TheEasyCoHQ) January 10, 2023
The wallet is said to be available to the public on iOS and Android after completing a 30-day private testing phase. According to Easy’s CEO, Mike Dougherty, the company aims to combine user-curated profiles with engaging social features so that people can search, navigate and discover the world of Web3 on their own.
A lot of Web3 products and services today are too technical for the everyday person to use, Dougherty shared. The company aims to make it easier for users to engage with Web3 and use digital wallets. The platform reportedly has a similar layout to social media apps like Instagram, where users can swipe to view both their own NFTs or those of people they “watch,” like Instagram Stories.
Related: Top crypto funding stories of 2022
Despite a long crypto winter, Web3 projects continue to receive substantial funding from Venture Capitalists. In 2022, billions of dollars poured into various projects in the ecosystem, including blockchain-based startups.
In the first two quarters of 2022, Venture Capital inflows were over $14 billion, and even though it receded to just under $5 billion in the third quarter, that was still a substantial amount given the negative impact of the sudden collapse of several prominent players in the industry, such as Celsius, Three Arrows Capital, BlockFi and FTX. Venture capitalist funding for the 2023 remains yet to be seen.
On Jan. 4, Cointelegraph reported that Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange MEXC plans to invest $20 million to support the growth and development of Sei Network, a layer-1 blockchain platform that is specifically tailored for trading.