MachineFi Lab Seed Round: Trust Begets Trust

They’re all around us. Billions of smartphones, wearables you can attach to your wrist, finger and chest, smart homes with smart appliances, internet-connected cars, security cameras, street sensors and more. IoT (Internet of Things) growth is exploding, and interested investors  have taken notice of IoTeX’s MachineFi vision to lead the Web3 IoT charge.

One marker of this interest is MachineFi Lab which recently closed a $10 million dollar investment round led by some of the best-known investors in the world. As the core developer for IoTeX, MachineFi Lab is the design workshop for Web3 builders.

We’re eager and grateful to work with the investors who believe in the future of MachineFi: Samsung Next, Jump Crypto, DraperDragon, HashKey Capital, WEMADE, IOSG, Goodwater Capital, DHVC, AlphaGrep, Hanwha Impact, XooglerVC, NewBuild VC, and more.

What moved our lead investors to support the MachineFi vision?

It’s clear, there’s a major opportunity in IoT. Right now, the overwhelming majority of data that people generate via smart devices and machines benefits a handful of the big tech companies. It’s staggering to consider the degree to which these players have a lock on the data that we generate but don’t benefit from. No need to name them. Goodbye FAANG and hello MAMAA. (Google it)

McKinsey estimates that by 2030 there will be 125 billion connected devices worth between $5.5 trillion and $12.6 trillion in value. Realizing that value will require a platform, or platforms, that can easily ingest, process, and monetize that data at scale.

But first, let’s talk about trust in social networks and how that relates to building a new infrastructure for data.

Investments as a statement of validation

Investing is an act of trust. It’s the kind of trust that takes years, if ever, to bear fruit. Our investors have been around the block a few times and don’t offer their trust lightly. Trust has weight, especially among your peers.

Trust Networks (not blockchains)

Globally recognized venture capital companies act as trusted information nodes for other VCs and their larger network of limited partners (LPs). They send signals to their larger investors community. Just as there are validating nodes in blockchains, MachineFi Lab investors play the role of reliable ‘nodes’ in this network of finance companies, LPs, and retail investors like you and me.

This validation function is especially important from the lead investors.

They’ve done the hard work of due diligence on the market’s total size, the other players in this space, the valuation, and the qualifications of the team. We often rely on their experience, expertise, and track record to help guide our investment decisions.

Those ‘nodes’ in a finance network convey a very basic truth.

That truth? Their belief in MachineFi Lab is deep enough that they will commit their dollars, in fact, the dollars their LPs have entrusted to them. And these investors are willing to walk with MachineFi Lab on a road that ends with the birth of a new industry. Machinefi.

Insights from Some of Our Investors

Samsung Next

No surprise, given their understanding and appreciation of the power of high tech hardware and software, Samsung Next Ventures quickly locked onto the value that real-world data represents. They see MachineFi Lab as well-positioned to ride the tsunami of IoT data, secured on a blockchain.

In a recent conversation with Raullen Chai, CEO & Founder of Machinefi Lab,  Raymond Liao, Managing Director of Samsung Next said that IoT is fragmented, and Web3’s role, if done right, is to provide a multi-chain environment that provides market access to developers so they don’t need to find customers.

Why we invested in MachineFi, connecting the real world to web3, Samsung Next’s recent blog reinforces what we believe MachineFi is capable of achieving - a tectonic shift in the IoT industry. To provide a broadly usable infrastructure for securing machine data and making that data usable in smart contracts. And create a platform where autonomous market participants can provide either “data access, resources, or actuation in exchange for payment” This is new and ambitious in its scope to create a new business vertical - MachineFi.

“We invested in MachineFi Lab because we think its platform has the potential to unify large-scale machine networks and to provide the infrastructure needed to enable each device to act as an autonomous market participant, providing incentives for consumers to help construct the network.” Read more from Samsung Next.

Draper Dragon

Has seen decades of startups claiming to be the next ‘disruptive technology’. Draper Dragon trusts that MachineFi will reshape the economic framework of society. They cite a report by McKinsey predicting 30% of the workforce will be replaced by automation. Take a moment to imagine how people, companies and the entire economy will function if this comes to pass. This isn’t a dry fact. People will demand the spoils of their data.

In their blog, Why We Invested in MachineFi Lab, they offer:

“Draper Dragon believes in the decentralized nature of Web3. We see our investments into both MachineFi and IoTeX falling into a larger pattern of traditional sectors integrating Web3 as a tool to give ownership of data back to end-users”. Read more.

Xoogler Ventures

In their post, Xoogler Ventures Investing in MachineFi, they write that Web3 and MachineFi are unstoppable trends. They clearly state that MachineFi Lab has the right team to capitalize on this wave, and the team is creating a secure infrastructure for builders to easily and quickly create dApps for the machine economy.

“We believe that Raullen and the founding team are uniquely positioned to bring on the next billion devices to Web3. Xoogler Ventures is excited to join them on this journey!” Read the full blog.

MachineFi’s Promise

“Think different”. That’s just what we’re doing.

There’s never been a platform that provides a Digital Identity (DID) for machines and people. This opens the door to machines and people acting with financial agency. Now add a Layer 2 data oracle - that makes real-world data usable in smart contracts- and a marketplace where real-world data earns money for the very people and machines who created it.

This MachineFi economy is both new and inevitable. With all the data that’s expected to come from IoT devices, IoTeX has created a fairer, scalable, and secure way to realize the value of this data with MachineFi Lab as the core developer.

• Imagine a dApp that pays you to stay fit. Insurers make more money when we don’t get sick. Or…
• Being paid to use bikes, scooters, buses or walk and stay out of cars. There’s less pollution, less traffic, lower street repair costs, etc. There are stakeholders willing to advance these goals with money that could go to you and me.

Our investors have endorsed our core beliefs:

1) We’re transitioning into a world where individuals will be able to choose how their data is used

2) The MachineFi Lab team has the vision, knowledge, and skills to build the infrastructure that makes this new world possible.

3) MachineFi Lab will create a MachineFi economic model.

What’s next?

With these investments, MachineFi Lab will be able to continue to improve the Layer 1 blockchain technology, make W3bstream, the Layer 2 data oracle more versatile with respect to processing machine data. We’ll hire more developers and bring in a broader community of builders to create innovative dApps on the IoTeX platform.

We’ll leave with this final thought from CEO and Co-Founder Raullen Chai :

We are offering developers, from anywhere in the world, the opportunity to avail themselves of the most advanced set of tools, optimized environment, and access to a team of world class experts. Our hope and expectation is that they will build things we never imagined. We look forward to being surprised and amazed at the work we’re supporting.