Web3 Data Firm Dune Analytics Hits Unicorn Status
The firm raised $69,420,000 in capital which will be used to distribute financial rewards to content creators and attract up to 1 million new Web3 analysts
Blockworks exclusive art by Axel Rangel
key takeaways
- To date, over 10,000 analysts have created about 100,000 queries on Dune’s platform consisting of metrics on OpenSea NFTs to customized balance sheets for DAOs
- “It’s a clear validation of how big this opportunity is and the $1 billion displays how much the sentiment around the whole space has changed,” co-founder Fredrik Haga said
About two years ago, Dune Analytics co-founders Fredrik Haga and Mats Olsen took a trip to San Francisco to gather investors to close a $1 million seed round.
At the time, no one wanted to participate, Haga told Blockworks.
Fast forward to today, the Oslo, Norway-based company just closed its $69,420,000 Series B round, which raised its valuation to $1 billion.
“It’s a clear validation of how big this opportunity is, and the $1 billion displays how much the sentiment around the whole space has changed,” Haga said.
Similar to FTX’s $420.69 million raise in October, Dune’s funding round was totaled at those exact numbers for a playful effect, Haga said, giving homage to 420, which references the date April 20th — a holiday celebrating marijuana — and 69, which symbolizes something else you can Google.
The capital raise was led by Coatue with participation from existing investors like Multicoin Capital and Dragonfly Capital. In total, Dune has raised almost $80 million, Haga said.
Mats Olsen, Dune co-founder and CTO (left) and Fredrik Haga, Dune co-founder and CEO; Source: Dune Analytics
Dune provides on-chain crypto data tools that allow users on its community-driven platform to extract and query data to create real-time dashboards on five blockchains: Ethereum, Polygon, Optimism, Binance Smart Chain and Gnosis Chain (formerly xDAI).
With the new capital, Dune will create an infrastructure that distributes financial rewards to content creators on the platform and attract up to 1 million additional Web3 analysts into its community.
“It’s hugely important to have the right tooling and also educate, reward and empower,” Haga said. “There are several individuals and companies building a business on top of Dune already. We want to further enable this and build the pipeline and more infrastructure.”
To date, over 10,000 analysts have created about 100,000 queries on Dune’s platform, ranging from metrics on OpenSea NFTs to customized balance sheets for DAOs.
“This is an open opportunity,” Haga said. “Before this, data was used inside product teams or a set of analysts or banks had closed access to data. Now it’s open by default and has a public backend that people can create on.”
In the future, the platform also plans to add “all major blockchains” and incorporate layer-1 and layer-2 smart contract platforms as well, Haga said.
“As the space evolves, all these elements become more tangible,” he said. “So much has changed in the past year and with all the activity going on in Web3, it’s a tremendous opportunity.”
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