PIP Labs, the company developing Story Protocol, has announced a successful $80 million Series B funding round, led by one of the most prominent venture capital funds in the cryptocurrency space, A16z Crypto.
The company revealed that, to date, it has successfully raised a total of $140 million, which will help build one of the most promising protocols in the blockchain industry and digital ecosystem.
According to PIP Labs, Story Protocol will revolutionize the tokenization of intellectual property (IP), providing valuable new capabilities and tools to creators, to power the next generation of Artificial Intelligence, decentralized finance (DeFi) and consumer applications.
Through its recent funding round, the company highlighted that it will drive the development of Story Protocol to address the challenges surrounding intellectual property management. This investment highlights both the potential of the new protocol and the growing attraction of large investors towards innovative solutions that promise to revolutionize the way intellectual property is managed and monetized in the digital age.
Story Protocol's innovative vision to transform intellectual property
Story Protocol's vision is ambitious: convert intellectual property into liquid, programmable and sovereign assets. In early June, its developers explained that this new protocol had been designed to tokenize intellectual property, which “is the largest asset class in the world.” They highlighted that intellectual property, from AI models, memes, game assets, character traits and more, is an asset class with immense value that remains untapped and inaccessible to the masses.
Therefore, through the Story protocol, PIP Labs seeks provide a streamlined infrastructure for intellectual property, allowing creators and users alike to unlock the true potential of IP as a hugely valuable asset class.
“By tokenizing creativity, Story is ushering in a digital renaissance. In short: what Bitcoin did to money, Story is doing to IP.”, stressed the company.
The “Legoland” of intellectual property
In a world where creativity and innovation are essential, the ability to tokenize intellectual property will allow creators to monetize their works more effectively and efficiently. According to Seung Yoon Lee, co-founder and CEO of PIP Labs, the goal is create a «Legoland of IP», where intellectual assets can be remixed and monetized across multiple platforms and applications.
As content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) becomes ubiquitous, the need for a system that ensures ownership and rights of creators becomes critical. Story Protocol will offer a solution that not only protects creators' rights but also simplifies the licensing process and royalty distribution. This innovative approach is designed to eliminate the friction that has traditionally existed between creators and intermediaries, allowing artists and developers to collaborate more seamlessly and productively.
A16z Crypto leads Series B funding round
PIP Labs' recent $80 million funding round was led by A16z Crypto, one of the world's largest venture capital investors. This is a testament to the growing interest in the potential of Story Protocol.
A16z is known for its focus on bold investments in Web3 startups and projects, and its involvement in Story Protocol underscores confidence in the company's ability to transform intellectual property management. Chris Dixon, Managing Partner at A16z Crypto, stressed that this protocol has the potential “to become the infrastructure for AI systems and creative people to happily coexist.”
The funding round also included other notable investors such as Polychain and digital art collector Cozomo de' Medici, demonstrating broad support in the crypto community. As mentioned above, this investment will allow Story Protocol to expand its infrastructure and continue developing its blockchain technology, which is specifically designed to handle the complexity of intellectual property in the digital world.
A blockchain for IP management
Story Protocol is based on a Layer1 blockchain that treats intellectual property as a first-class citizen. This means that IP assets become programmable blocks, ready to be used in a variety of applications. This structure allows creators to register their work as IP assets, generating a record on the blockchain that secures their ownership and facilitates licensing.
The technology behind Story Protocol includes a “Proof of Creativity” protocol, which enables programmable functionality for IP, such as permissionless licensing and automatic royalty payments. This not only simplifies the process for creators, but also opens the door to new monetization opportunities. For example, AI models can be registered as IP assets, allowing developers to license large volumes of data at low cost, which is essential for training AI models.
“By building the world's IP blockchain, Story conveys the immense value of IP to Web3, turning it into a liquid, accessible and programmable digital asset”, noted PIP Labs.
This means that users can use intellectual property as on-chain programmable assets, which can be traded, distributed and integrated into thousands of digital applications.
Intellectual property in the digital age
As the world moves towards a digital economy, Story Protocol appears well positioned to lead the charge in the tokenization of intellectual property. With more than 200 teams working on platform development, representing more than 20 million IP assets, the company is building a robust ecosystem that promises to democratize access to intellectual property.
Overall, this protocol provides an infrastructure that will allow AI creators and developers to coexist and thrive, transforming intellectual property into a liquid and programmable asset, while facilitating the monetization of creativity and fostering collaboration between creators and companies. platforms. With all this, Story Protocol will revolutionize the way intellectual property is managed and monetized, opening a world of possibilities in the digital age.
