By Riley Kaminer
For a while, it seemed like picking a blockchain network was like supporting a baseball team. You probably forgot how you ended up being their fan, but you are in too deep to change your allegiance.
But that might be changing now, thanks to Miami startup Cosmic Wire. As the crypto winter begins to thaw, the startup is working to develop cross-chain web3 solutions.
This week, Cosmic Wire announced that they have raised a $30 million seed round from lead investors Solana Foundation and Polygon. The startup is developing a series of blockchain infrastructure products. According to Coindesk, this includes solutions for analytics, digital identity management, smart contract development tools, and chain-agnostic marketplaces.
Why does the cross-chain nature of Cosmic Wire matter? Because this approach facilitates data transfer interoperability across different blockchains. And Cosmic Wire hopes to do so without compromising privacy. Much to the contrary, the company reports that they hope to provide users with sovereign control over their data and online interactions.
“We are very excited for Cosmic Wire’s Web3 infrastructure to be built on the Solana network,” commented Johnny Lee, general manager of Games, Entertainment, and Media at the Solana Foundation, the non-profit promoting the adoption of the Solana ecosystem.
“Their metaverse SDK solutions significantly reduce development times of high-fidelity, 3D, browser-based metaverse experiences with e-commerce of both physical web3 digital products, content CDNs, payment solutions and avatar UGC all integrated,” Lee continued. “Solana Foundation has always supported tools and infrastructure builders, and we are excited for Cosmic Wire to deliver new metaverse experiences on the Solana network that have never been possible before.”
Next up for Cosmic Wire is joining Google Cloud’s web3 startup program. Among many benefits of the program are up to $200,000 in Google Cloud credits and priority review for the Polygon Ventures Ecosystem Fund and dedicated investment dollars totaling up to $3 million.
Cosmic Wire founder and CEO Jerad Finck has the diverse kind of background you would only find in the Web3 space. After a stint on the tech team of Nokia during the dotcom boom, Finck launched a mental wellness center serving low-income patients. He then launched a music publishing and catalog representation company and worked as a musician and producer himself – working for clients including Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros. Finck started working on Cosmic Wire in June 2021.
“We are so grateful for the overwhelming support from our investors and partners,” said Finck. “Thanks to the massive success of the seed round, we’re now empowering creators, businesses, and entire industry sectors connecting people globally, and transforming the very way we communicate and transact.”
He added: “Cosmic Wire is blazing the path forward driving Web3 in exciting new ways resulting in exponential increases of efficiencies and monetization of systems at scale. We have all seen what Web3 isn’t, now we will show you what it is.”
Photo at top of post shows Jerad Finck, founder and CEO of Cosmic Wire, and Johnny Lee, general manager of Games, Entertainment, and Media at Solana Foundation.
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