LineNext, a web3 unit of the Japanese messaging app Line, raised $140 million in its funding led by Crescendo Equity Partners, a Peter Thiel-backed private equity firm in South Korea, to expand its web3 platform.
The new funding comes nearly a year after LineNext released its browser-only beta service — a consumer-to-consumer(C2C) marketplace launched on its non-fungible token (NFT) platform DOSI. With the previous DOSI beta, LineNext focused on “gauging the potential for various Web 3 services, such as NFT platforms, avatar features, games and entertainment,” Woosuk Kim, business director of LineNext, told TechCrunch.
The new funds will be used to launch the company’s official NFT platform DOSI and web3 services in January of next year. These include the launch of the DOSI mobile app, which will be available to global users, as well as the integration of games and over 100 LINE NFT partners in Japan into the DOSI platform. Furthermore, it will provide a new development tool to assist Web 2 brands in transitioning to Web 3 digital products, as well as give users the ability to trade their products directly on DOSI. LineNext will also launch a new social app that allows users to communicate with AI avatars and new Web3 games based on Line’s character Brown and Friends.
“For the full launch in January, we are increasing the services we offer, adding digital products for brand memberships, and expanding content, event tickets and games,” Kim told TechCrunch. “We also plan on adding major, international mobile payment options beyond Naver Pay and LINE Pay.”
LineNext wants to “popularize” web3 for all, Kim continued. “We target all users who own or want to own valuable digital products, including app users, gamers, consumers and users who enjoy entertainment.”
When asked about the NFT market’s downturn and potential resurgence following the NFT boom in 2021 and 2022, he said, the company “believes that NFTs will become a new standard for valuable digital goods,” Kim said, adding that “In the early stages of the NFT market, there were a lot of speculative products in the industry… and we are aiming to build and expand that market [again].”
5.5 million users worldwide have used the company’s beta product, with over 470,000 transactions completed. Line Next, which was founded in 2021, generates revenue by charging platform fees to users, according to the company, adding that it will develop additional revenue models as it issues, distributes, and trades digital products.
According to Kim, one of the things that distinguishes LineNext from its competitors is its global infrastructure and know-how based on its global services. LineNext will also offer its services on Finschia, its public blockchain mainnet that is 400x faster in transaction speed and 98% cheaper in network usage fee than Ethereum.
LineNext Korea is in charge of the Web 3 business strategy, while LineNext US is in charge of the NFT platform business.
SoftBank Corporation, Naver, Naver Webtoon, Naver Z, Line Games, CJ ENM, YG Plus, Hashed, Shinsegae, and K Auction each contributed $10 million to Line Next last year. LY Corporation, a merger of SoftBank Group’s Z Holdings and four subsidiaries, including Line Corporation and Yahoo! Japan, owns 100% of LineNext.
