In summary
- CARV, a Blockchain data protocol, announced on Thursday the launch of a $50 million acceleration program to foster innovation in decentralized data infrastructure.
- The initiative, called CARV Labs, will support startups working on projects that drive mass adoption of the CARV data protocol by offering funding, technical support and industry connections.
- CARV Labs’ first incubated project, a game called Banana, has attracted 10 million players since its launch in July, and the accelerator has several gaming-focused partners.
CARV, a blockchain data protocol designed for gaming and artificial intelligence projects, announced Thursday that it is launching a $50 million accelerator program aimed at fostering innovation in decentralized data infrastructure. The initiative, called CARV Labs, will support startups working on projects that could drive mass adoption of CARV’s data protocol.
Backed by prominent blockchain venture capital firms including HashKey Capital and Ethereum software firm Consensys, CARV Labs will offer funding, technical support, and industry connections to selected projects. (Disclosure: Consensys is one of 22 investors in an editorially independent Decrypt.)
“Our goal is to enable a decentralized data ecosystem for greater innovation,” said Victor Yu, co-founder of CARV, in a statement. “Building a sustainable data infrastructure depends on creating a dynamic data flywheel, which requires modular infrastructure and a critical mass of high-quality applications after achieving product-market fit.”
CARV Labs’ first incubated project, an idle game called Banana, built as a mini-app on Telegram in The Open Network (TON) ecosystem, has attracted 10 million players since its launch in late July. Banana allows players to tap the screen to earn points, as well as unlock a variety of colorful and unique fruit collectibles, similar to a popular, but unrelated PC game of the same name.
The accelerator has several gaming-focused partners, CARV said, including Netmarble subsidiary Marblex, Intella X, Doublejump.tokyo and Xterio.
CARV says it has generated more than $5 million in revenue so far this year from applications using its protocol. In August, CARV launched its Alphanet, operated by 40,000 community-run verifier nodes valued at $35 million.
The accelerator announcement follows CARV’s $10 million Series A funding round in April, led by Tribe Capital and IOSG Ventures. The company, which has raised $50 million to date, integrates with over 900 gaming and AI companies, serving 9.5 million registered players across over 40 blockchain networks.
Editor’s note: This article was written with the assistance of AI. Edited and fact-checked by Andrew Hayward.
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