[NEWS] Sony establishes joint venture with Startail Labs to develop its own blockchain

Sony Network Communications and Starrale Labs, led by Sota Watanabe, founder of Astar Network, announced on the 12th that they will establish a joint venture to develop their own blockchain.

A new company, Sony Network Communication Labs Pte. Ltd., will be established in the middle of this month. The new company will maximize the power of blockchain and aim to develop a blockchain that will become a global infrastructure to create Web 3.0 killer use cases.

The company will be based in Singapore, and Jun Watanabe, president of Sony Network Communications, will serve as chairman. The company will have capital of 1 million Singapore dollars (approximately 100 million yen).

Startale Labs' Watanabe commented on X (formerly Twitter) that it was a "historic day," and in a press release, he expressed his enthusiasm, saying that both companies will bring together their assets and knowledge to "carefully identify the next trend and timing of Web 3.0 and take on the world."

In addition, Sony Network Communications' Watanabe stated that by combining the knowledge that Sony Network Communications has cultivated so far with Startale Labs' knowledge and technical capabilities regarding Web 3.0, "we want to create a blockchain that will become a global infrastructure that supports the Web 3.0 era."

Sony Network was established in 1995 as an Internet service provider. It handles IoT and AI businesses, including the high-speed optical fiber service "NURO Hikari."

Startale Labs was established in January this year and develops dApps and infrastructure. In the same month, it established a subsidiary in Japan, Startale Labs Japan, which develops Web 3 businesses and provides business consulting.

In June this year, Startale Labs revealed that it had raised approximately 500 million yen in funding from Sony Network Communications.

Reference:Announcement
Image: Quoted from the announcement