Following the news, on September 18th, Web3 startup Vana announced it had raised an additional $5 million in new funding, bringing its total funding to $25 million. This strategic funding round was led by Coinbase Ventures. Previously, the company had secured an $18 million Series A round led by crypto venture capital firm Paradigm.

The startup is building a network of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that use blockchain technology to address the lack of training data for AI models, while providing a way for internet users to earn money. Vana is one of many companies currently attempting to build businesses around the intersection of blockchain and artificial intelligence.

Anna Kazlauskas, the company's co-founder and CEO, said any data that can nourish and help AI models evolve is valuable, but private data from internet users on popular social media platforms can be exponentially more valuable. Vana's network of DAOs will allow members to pool data accumulated on platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn, or X, and then monetize it by selling those datasets to AI researchers.