The firm plans to use the new capital to launch its official NFT platform DOSI and web3 services in January 2024
Line Next, a web3 unit of the Japanese messaging app Line, raised $140 million in its funding led by Crescendo Equity Partners, a Peter Thiel-backed private equity company in South Korea, to grow its web3 platform.
The new funding comes about a year after Line Next released its browser-only beta service – a C2C marketplace launched on its NFT platform DOSI. With the earlier DOSI beta, Line Next focused on “gauging the potential for different web3 services, like NFT platforms, avatar features, games and entertainment,” Woosuk Kim, business director of Line Next, told TechCrunch.
The firm plans to use the new capital to launch its official non-fungible token platform DOSI and web3 services in January 2024. These include the DOSI’s mobile app launch, which will be available to global users, and the integration of games and over 100 partners of LINE NFT in Japan into the DOSI platform. Additionally, it will offer a new development tool to help Web 2 brands transform into web3 digital products and give users ownership to trade their products directly on DOSI. Line Next will also release a new social app letting users communicate via artificial intelligence (AI) avatars and launch new web3 games using Line’s character Brown and Friends.
For the full launch in January, we are expanding the services we offer, adding digital products for brand memberships, and expanding content, event tickets and games, Kim told TechCrunch. We also plan on adding international mobile payment options beyond Naver Pay and LINE Pay.
Line Next wants to “popularise” web3 for all, Kim said. We target all users who own or want to own valuable digital products, including app users, gamers, consumers and users who like entertainment.
