- Wakweli raises $1.1 million in a seed funding round led by Summit Group.
- This funding will augment the product development of its NFT certification platform.
- A ‘checkmark’ to prove authenticity for NFTs and tokenized assets on the blockchain.
Geneva-based Wakweli (which is Swahili for truthtellers), has successfully completed a $1.1 million seed funding round to build and develop its tokenized assets certification platform. The capital raise was led by Summit Group, a comprehensive blockchain ecosystem that deals with investments, mining, consulting, and education in blockchain and crypto projects. Other partners include Funfair Ventures, a crypto venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups, and ‘dozens’ of angel investors and early-stage investors, the team statement released Tuesday confirms.
The capital raise will go towards helping the startup roll out its product offerings such as a community-core protocol that shows authentic NFTs and tokenized assets using a kind of checkmark, like Twitter Blue, you just don’t have to pay $8.
The Web 3 ecosystem is no visitor to rug pulls and scams on investors, and NFTs are no different. The number of phishing, pump and dump, fake, and duplicate scam NFTs has increased rapidly in the past two years as the ecosystem grew to a $22 billion market. With the NFT and tokenization marketplace predicted to grow to a $1.6 trillion market by 2030, according to the global consultancy firm, BCG, Wakweli’s vision to authenticate this ecosystem could prove key to ‘mass adoption’, as FunFair Ventures COO Lloyd Purser said in a statement.
“The problem Wakweli is solving is very real and needs addressing, it is a critical part of web3’s journey to mass adoption. The team is hugely experienced and passionate and has shown great trajectory, and we firmly believe that Wakweli will be a key enabler in the growing use of web3 technology in the years ahead,” Lloyd added.
Wakweli is currently incubated by EverdreamSoft, a company founded by Wakweli’s Co-Founder and CEO Shaban Shaame, which has pioneered the growth of blockchain gaming development since 2015. Since its launch in 2021, Wakweli has built solutions allowing NFT marketplaces, buyers and creators to benefit from their assets by verifying their authenticity. With the slew of partners joining, Shaame expects the company to introduce more innovations and new products as new capital flows into the project.
“Collaborating with partners who share the same values and aspirations allows us to work towards a common goal to build a better future through innovation and trust. We appreciate the confidence our partners have placed in Wakweli and are excited to start this journey together.”
Over the past year, Wakweli launched its whitepaper, launched its alpha demo testnet and made iterations to improve its proof-of-democracy (PoD) consensus algorithm. In 2023, Shaame expects a takeoff stage for the company, with the team set to launch the public sale launch and launch pilot projects for vertical products and integrations later in the year. Additionally, a dedicated foundation will be created to manage the venture, which encourages projects to build on Wakweli layers and apply for token grants distributed by its on-chain treasury.
Mathieu Vincent, CEO of Summit Mining and Summit Gravity stated their goal in investing in Wakweli lies in the vision to build implementations of innovative products in the Web 3 space.
“It is thanks to the implementation of innovative solutions like Wakweli that trust in the blockchain, crypto and NFT ecosystem will grow to the point where this universe will become obvious to everyone.”
Disclaimer: 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.