Web3 developer platform Airstack has successfully raised over $7 million after concluding the second half of a pre-seed funding round led by Superscrypt. The innovative startup enables developers to access and utilize cross-chain data through natural language requests supported by artificial intelligence (AI), a technology gaining traction yet surrounded by controversy in the crypto realm.
Over the past year, Airstack’s team conducted extensive interviews with developers to better understand their tool usage and challenges they encountered. Jason Goldberg, CEO of Airstack, explained that the platform was designed to directly address those pain points. Since its launch in April, Airstack has managed to attract more than 200 developers who have utilized the platform for various projects, ranging from marketing engines and decentralized finance (DeFi) portfolio optimizers to customer resource management tools and decentralized social and messaging applications.
One of Airstack’s remarkable features is the ability for developers to query, combine, and integrate on-chain or off-chain, cross-chain, and cross-application data using a single query and response. For example, a natural language query involving the Polygon blockchain’s native MATIC token could ask for all holders of MATIC token with a minimum of 10,000 MATIC, their token balances, and their ENS and Lens and Farcaster.
The first half of the funding round came to a close in the third quarter of 2023 with backers that included Polygon. Other notable investors in the round were Hashed Emergent, NGC, Primal Capital, UOB Ventures, and Signum Capital among others. Coinciding with the funding announcement, Airstack revealed an updated version of its Jam social app, built on Farcaster and Ethereum. The iOS and Android app showcases user profiles and groups centered around users’ Web3 collectibles.
As of now, Airstack offers its services free of charge. However, the company plans to introduce a pricing model in the future. Goldberg emphasized their current focus is to onboard thousands of developers onto Airstack in the coming months. The aim is to pinpoint the areas where the platform adds the most value and where genuine business use cases emerge before finalizing the pricing model.
While Airstack’s progress is noteworthy, questions surrounding the ethical use of AI in the crypto industry persist. AI’s potential for manipulation and control raises concerns that warrant further discussion as the technology advances. In the meantime, Airstack remains dedicated to addressing developer pain points and contributing to the ever-evolving world of decentralized technology.
Source: Coindesk
