Asian messaging giant LINE raises $140 million to expand NFT venture
LINE NEXT, the South Korea-based NFT arm of messaging giant LINE, raised $140 million in investment to “popularize the Web3 ecosystem.”
In a statement released today, LINE claimed the investment was “the largest funding round in the Asian blockchain Web3 industry for this year.” It was led by Crescendo Equity Partners, a Peter Thiel-backed private equity firm.
With the new capital, LINE plans to officially launch its global NFT platform DOSI in January 2024. “Integrating with Japan’s NFT marketplace LINE NFT, DOSI will be offered as a mobile app to users around the world,” the company said.
Giving brands ownership
LINE NEXT also plans to help brands to “give ownership” of existing digital products and allow them to be traded. The social media giant intends to introduce web3 games featuring its existing characters known as BROWN & FRIENDS.
“We hope to build a standard for Web3 apps that general users can easily use and adopt blockchain to all sorts of services and brands of Web2,” Kevin Lee, the managing partner of Crescendo, said in the statement.
Youngsu Ko, CEO of LINE NEXT, said the team plans to “further popularize Web3 and develop a new service ecosystem where users own the value of their digital goods.”
The social media giant has been active in venturing into the web3 space. In December 2021, it established LINE NEXT and in September 2022 launched the beta service for its global NFT platform DOSI.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
