Navigate, a Singapore-based web3 startup announced that it has secured $7.6M in a Seed funding round led by Distributed Global, a crypto-focused investment firm. Kraken Ventures, Outlier Ventures, British billionaire Alan Howard and others, also participated in the funding.
According to the report, Navigate has raised the Seed round through an agreement for future tokens (SAFT) sale, meaning investors will receive Navigate’s NVG8 token in exchange for their capital at a future date.
Navigate was founded by a group of five people – Rumi Morales (director of investments at Digital Currency Group), Amir Husain (founder and CEO of artificial intelligence company SparkCognition), Ali Husain (director at SparkCognition), Amanda Center (manager at SparkCognition) and Moeez Hassan Qadri (former project manager at SparkCognition).
Crypto for data
Navigate was founded on the idea that the company offers crypto rewards in NVG8 tokens in return for users’ data on its platform, like tracking air pollution, water pressure, carbon emissions, utility efficiency, noise levels, airspace activity, or even network signal strength.
“While the goal of the Navigate Platform is to be the ultimate destination for contributing and sourcing several different types of critical data, initially, the marketplace will offer data vaults for predefined data types,” says Amanda Center. “These will include drone imagery, dashcam and street-view footage, mobility data, and weather monitoring data, among others.”
The startup platform will have both Marketplace and Dapps. The marketplace let users share data, while Dapps enable developers to utilise the data and build decentralized applications on its platform.
According to the company, its first application will be Navigate Maps — a map of major cities. Unlike the traditional offering, the Maps will be a community-owned app that will be constantly updated using users’ data.
Launching marketplace in beta
The company is planning to launch its beta version of its marketplace later this month and mainnet later this year.
“As for Navigate Maps, its first version is expected to launch in the third quarter of this year,” says Center.
However, the company is planning to launch more applications that could be used by various clients, including software companies, auto manufacturers, climate change researchers, and advertising firms.
In terms of the business model, if the Navigate ecosystem grows, it will increase the demand for its native NVG8 token and that could increase its price, says the company.
At present, Navigate employs 12 people and plans to stay lean for the time being, said Center.
