Andrena, a wireless internet provider, has raised $18 million. The funding will fuel its decentralized internet project on Solana. Dragonfly led the Series A extension round. CMT Digital, Castle Island Ventures, and Wintermute Ventures also chipped in.
The deal was structured as a SAFE with token warrants. It brings Andrena's total funding to $38 million. Dragonfly had also led a $15 million Series A round in February 2023.
Andrena's been in the game since 2017. They've been offering cheap wireless internet across the US. Now they're doubling down on blockchain tech.
The fresh cash will speed up work on their DAWN protocol. DAWN stands for decentralized autonomous wireless network. It's a fancy way of saying "internet without the big guys".
DePINs are all the rage right now. They let people share physical stuff like energy or internet bandwidth. Andrena's betting big on this trend.
"We're stoked to build the first DePIN protocol for decentralized broadband on Solana," the company tweeted. They're dreaming big. Their goal? Turn the internet from a provider-owned model to a consumer-owned one.
DAWN uses something called "proof of backhaul". It's a way to check how much data each node can handle. They cooked this up with some smart cookies from Princeton and Polygon.
Right now, DAWN's just testing the waters. But they're gearing up to launch on Solana for real.
The DePIN market's on fire. Fundraising's up 296% year-on-year. Total market cap has hit $20 billion, according to Messari. That's a 400% jump.
Solana's leading the pack for DePIN projects. It's hosting about 78 of them. But other blockchains like IoTeX and Peaq are nipping at its heels.
Will Andrena's bet pay off? Only time will tell. But with $18 million in their pocket, they've got a solid shot at shaking up the internet game.