Sony Innovation Fund invests $13 million in Soneium co-developer Startale Group, kicking off its Series A fundraising

Sony Ventures, the investment wing of the Japanese tech giant, is doubling down on its bet on Startale Group, the co-developer of the Soneium blockchain. The company is deploying another $13 million in Startale through the Sony Innovation Fund in a "follow-on investment" representing "the first investment of its Series A," a spokesperson told The Block.

The Singapore-based Startale previously secured a $3.5 million seed round from Sony in 2023 and an additional $3.5 million seed extension from UOB Venture Management and Samsung Next in 2024. This latest investment bring Startale's lifetime disclosed funding to $20 million.

"Startale has been an important partner to Sony since the early days of Soneium," Startale CEO Sota Watanabe said in a statement. "Our vision is to bring the world on-chain, and Sony’s continued support strengthens our ability to deliver the infrastructure required to realize that vision at global scale."

The investment comes on the heels of the Startale App, a super-app designed as the entry point to Sony's Ethereum Layer 2 Soneium and its ecosystem, co-developed by Startale and Sony Block Solutions Labs.

Soneium, an Ethereum Layer 2 built using Optimism’s OP Stack, is designed for entertainment industry use cases, like audience building, IP licensing, and AI integrations, as well as general-purpose activities, like the USDSC stablecoin that acts as a unified settlement layer on the network. 

Plume, for instance, is expanding its real-world asset solution to Soneium while major messaging app LINE tapped the network for a series of NFT-based mini apps. SBI Holdings also recently tapped Startale to develop a regulated, round-the-clock tokenized equities trading platform, though it is unclear whether this will go live on Soneium.

Since its mainnet launch in January 2025, Soneium has processed over 500 million transactions, launched 5.4 million active wallets, and supports more than 250 live dApps, according to the release.

"Startale is a company working across the blockchain space, from infrastructure to applications. With a global perspective, the team is focused on enabling new value flows built on on-chain technologies," Sony Ventures Corporation CEO Kazuhito Hadano said. "Through our ongoing collaboration around Soneium, we look forward to continuing to support Startale’s challenges and ambitions going forward."

Startale also operates Astar Network, “Japan’s largest public blockchain.”