To expand its web3 platform, Line Next, a web3 division of the Japanese messaging app Line, has received $140 million in investment from Crescendo Equity Partners, a South Korean private equity firm with Peter Thiel’s support.
The fresh financing comes almost a year after Line Next debuted its browser-only beta service—a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace built on its non-fungible token (NFT) platform, DOSI. Line Next’s earlier DOSI beta was aimed at “gauging the potential for various Web 3 services, such as NFT platforms, avatar features, games, and entertainment,” according to Woosuk Kim, Line Next’s business director.
The fresh funds will be used to launch the company’s official NFT platform, DOSI, and Web3 services in January of next year. These include the debut of the DOSI mobile app, which will be accessible to worldwide users, as well as the integration of games and over 100 LINE NFT partners in Japan into the DOSI platform. Furthermore, it will provide a new development tool to assist Web 2 businesses in transitioning to Web 3 digital goods, as well as give customers the ability to trade their items directly on DOSI. Line Next will also introduce a new social app that allows users to connect with AI avatars and new Web3 games based on Line’s characters Brown and Friends.
“For the full launch in January, we are increasing the services we offer, adding digital products for brand memberships, and expanding content, event tickets, and games,” Kim said in an interview with Eltrys. “We also plan on adding major, international mobile payment options beyond Naver Pay and LINE Pay.”
Kim went on to say that Line Next intends to “popularize” Web3 for everyone. “We target all users who own or want to own valuable digital products, including app users, gamers, consumers, and users who enjoy entertainment.”
When asked about the NFT market’s downturn and potential resurgence following the NFT boom in 2021 and 2022, Kim stated that the company “believes that NFTs will become a new standard for valuable digital goods” and that “in the early stages of the NFT market, there were a lot of speculative products in the industry… and we are aiming to build and expand that market [again].”
5.5 million people worldwide have used the company’s beta software, with over 470,000 transactions completed. Line Next, which was created in 2021, earns income by charging platform fees to customers, according to the business, adding that it would develop new revenue models as it issues, distributes, and trades digital items.
According to Kim, one of the things that distinguishes Line Next from its rivals is its worldwide infrastructure and know-how based on its global services. Line Next will also provide its services on Finschia, a public blockchain mainnet that is 400x quicker in transaction speed and 98% cheaper in network use cost than Ethereum.
Line Next Korea is in charge of the Web 3 business strategy, while Line Next US is in charge of the NFT platform business.
SoftBank Corporation, Naver, Naver Webtoon, Naver Z, Line Games, CJ ENM, YG Plus, Hashed, Shinsegae, and K Auction each contributed $10 million to Line Next last year. LY Corporation, a merger of SoftBank Group’s Z Holdings and four companies, including Line Corporation and Yahoo! Japan, owns 100% of Line Next.
