Vana, a pioneering tech startup leveraging blockchain technology to create a user-owned data ecosystem for AI development, has raised a total of $25 million. With the funding, they aim to further their goals of breaking through the data wall that AI researchers encounter and developing user-owned AI. This milestone sets VANA as one of the world’s leading solutions to Decentralized AI.

Their fundraise totals to $25 million between three key investors:

• $5 million strategic round with Coinbase Ventures
• $18 million Series A with Paradigm
• $2 million Seed led with Polychain

What did these investors see in Vana?

Being a new technology, AI has been at the forefront of technological interest since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT models. While AI has grown rapidly, it has also grown carelessly with it being saturated with low quality AI models that pose a harm to its users' information. Decentralized AI with the focus of data protection and user-owned data has been the core of Vana.

According to Jackson Dahl from Paradigm, they were impressed by the Vana team as they build towards a future of user-owned data. Paradigm, a research-driven firm behind the biggest web3 products such as Cosmos and Uniswap, is keen to see what AI products Vana enables.

Vana is proud to have gathered and got unanimous support from the brightest minds for user-owned A. These individuals took a bet that data is the foundational resource needed for AI. Notable backers include: Casey Caruso, Packy McCormick, Manifold, GSR, Will Price, Jez, SCB 10X, Defiance Capital, Contango, Auros Ventures, MH Ventures, BoxGroup, and Will Manidis. 

How Vana intends to move forward

Being the first network designed only for private and user-owned data, Vana is sure to disrupt the current state of AI. It includes incentives for the top 16 data liquidity pools, native support for data pooling via data DAOs, and an EVM-compatible layer 1 blockchain designed specifically for collective ownership of private digital assets—the private data that powers AI in the future. 

These key features and the vision to change the landscape of AI has been the key to capturing high profile investments from the world’s best and most cutthroat investors. Moving forward, Vana is determined in transforming AI into something safe, reliable, and trustworthy to everyday users, giving importance to the little guy.

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