LINE NEXT Secures $140M Investment from Crescendo Equity Partners to Accelerate Web3 Adoption
LINE NEXT, the blockchain subsidiary of LINE Corporation, today announced that it has secured $140 million in investment from a consortium led by Crescendo Equity Partners, a global private equity firm. The investment is the largest in the Asia blockchain and Web3 industry this year.
LINE NEXT plans to use the funds to expand its global platform business and develop new services to accelerate the adoption of Web3.
First, LINE NEXT plans to launch its global NFT (non-fungible token) platform, DOSI, as a “digital marketplace” for trading various digital goods in January 2024. The official version will integrate DOSI with LINE NFT, a comprehensive NFT marketplace that is currently available in Japan, to offer a mobile app that can be used by users around the world. LINE NEXT will also provide a new solution that allows Web2 services and brands to easily adopt Web3 by granting ownership and trading rights to existing digital goods.
In addition, LINE NEXT is preparing new services to accelerate the adoption of Web3. The company plans to launch a social app that uses AI technology to allow users to communicate based on characters they create themselves, as well as a new Web3 game that uses Brown & Friends characters that anyone can easily enjoy. LINE NEXT will deploy these services on the public blockchain Finschia. In addition, LINE NEXT and Crescendo will participate as governance members of the Finschia Foundation to contribute to the expansion of the Finschia ecosystem.
“We invested in LINE NEXT because of its global business competitiveness and vision for the adoption of Web3,” said Lee Ki-do, CEO of Crescendo. “We expect that many Web2 services and brands will be able to adopt blockchain without hesitation, and that we will be able to set the standard for Web3 applications that are easy for ordinary users to use.”
“It is significant that this large-scale investment was made in a global investment environment that is shrinking,” said Park Young-soo, CEO of LINE NEXT. “We will use this opportunity to realize the adoption of Web3 and build a new service ecosystem where users own the value of digital goods.”
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