LINE Yahoo Corporation
[LINE NEXT] Decided to raise approximately 20 billion yen to expand the Web3 ecosystem
Largest amount of funding this year in the Asian blockchain and Web3 industry Funding raised from Crescendo, a PE fund invested by PayPal founder Peter Thiel
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LINE NEXT (LINE NEXT Corp.), a LINE Yahoo group company that plans and develops NFT platforms, announced today that it has received an agreement from “CRESCENDO EQUITY PARTNERS LIMITED” (hereinafter referred to as “Crescendo”), a PE (private equity) fund, and a consortium led by Crescendo. We have decided to raise $140 million (approximately 20 billion yen*1).
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LINE NEXT is promoting the spread of Web3 through various global services centered on the global NFT platform “DOSI”*2. Currently, the number of registered accounts of the NFT wallet “DOSI Wallet” exceeds 5.5 million, and the cumulative number of transactions has reached approximately 470,000 *3, and has been rapidly growing in just one year since the beta version was launched. LINE NEXT has decided to raise $140 million in funding, the largest amount of this year in the Asian blockchain and Web3 industry*4. The investor, Crescendo, is a PE fund invested by Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and a leading investor in Silicon Valley. At Crescendo, we aim to discover small and medium-sized enterprises in the technology field and grow them into global top companies. With this investment, LINE NEXT will continue to expand its global business and develop new services to further popularize Web3. – Overview of new services such as renewal of “DOSI” – In January 2024, “DOSI” is scheduled to be renewed into a digital marketplace where various digital items can be traded. We will unify the NFT comprehensive marketplace “LINE NFT”, which was developed for the domestic market, into “DOSI” and provide it as a mobile app that users around the world can enjoy. *5 Furthermore, we will support companies and content holders to easily introduce Web3 by developing new solutions that enable existing digital items to be owned and traded using blockchain. In addition, we will work on the development of new services, such as a social app that allows communication using characters created using AI technology, and the launch of a Web3 game that utilizes BROWN & FRIENDS characters. Furthermore, we plan to use the third-generation blockchain mainnet “Finschia” as the basic technology for the service. Additionally, Crescendo will join as a new governance member of the Finschia Foundation, a non-profit
organization that operates Finschia (formerly LINE Blockchain) and the crypto asset FINSCHIA (formerly LINK), and together they will contribute to the expansion of the Web3 ecosystem. *6 – Comment from Crescendo CEO Kevin Lee – “We decided to invest based on the Web3 expertise that LINE has cultivated and our vision to popularize these services. We will introduce blockchain to all Web2 services. , we hope that we can establish a standard for Web3 apps that can be easily used by general users.” -Comment from LINE NEXT CEO Young-soo Ko – “As the investment environment shrinks worldwide, large-scale We feel that the decision to raise funds is of great significance. Through this opportunity, we aim to accelerate the spread of Web3 and build a new service ecosystem where users retain the value of digital items. ” *1 Converted to yen using the exchange rate as of December 12th *2 LINE NEXT launches beta version of global NFT platform “DOSI” from today https://linecorp.com/ja/pr/news/ja/ 2022/4342 *3 Based on August 2023 (total number of accounts created in Japan and globally, different from the number of users) *4 According to LINE NEXT *5 NFT-related services due to the renewal of the global NFT platform “DOSI” Notice of termination https://www.lycorp.co.jp/ja/news/release/000975/*6 Finschia Foundation announces initial members of Finschia governance, including Softbank, LINE NEXT, and LINE Xenesis
https://finschia.medium .com/finschia
Foundation-Softbank-line-next-line-xenesis etc.-Announcement of initial members of finschia governance-e1d39f50d639■LINE NEXT CorporationLINE NEXT Corporation is a company that oversees business planning and development of Web3. is a wholly owned subsidiary of. With a subsidiary in the United States responsible for operating the global NFT platform business and a base in Japan, we aim to expand the Web3 ecosystem. ■Crescendo Equity PartnersCRESCENDO EQUITY PARTNERS LIMITED (hereinafter referred to as “Crescendo”) is a PE fund established in May 2012 by Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies. Crescendo primarily invests in traditional B2B hardware areas such as semiconductors and parts materials, and software areas that are new growth engines such as IT security and factory automation. As of November 2023, the size of assets under management (based on cumulative contract amount) has reached $1.4 billion.