Sony Innovation Fund Invests $13 Million in Startale Group to Advance Soneium Blockchain

TLDR: Sony Innovation Fund leads Series A with $13M, lifting Startale’s disclosed funding to $20M total. Soneium Layer 2 shows traction with 500M+ transactions, 5.4M wallets, and 250+ dApps since January 2025 launch. Funding accelerates creator-centric, onchain entertainment using AI, IP, and Ethereum L2 rails at global scale. Sony–Startale partnership deepens via Block Solutions Labs, backing vertical blockchain stacks. Sony Innovation Fund has committed an additional $13 million to Startale Group, the co-developer of the Soneium blockchain platform. This investment represents the first tranche of Startale’s Series A funding round. The capital injection brings Startale’s total disclosed funding to $20 million, following a $3.5 million seed round from Sony in 2023 and a $3.5 million seed extension from UOB Venture Management and Samsung Next in 2024. Partnership Expansion Drives Infrastructure Development The latest funding deepens the collaboration between Sony and Startale Group, which began over a year ago. Sony Block Solutions Labs Pte. Ltd., the joint venture behind Soneium, serves as the operational foundation for this partnership. The continued investment signals Sony’s confidence in Startale’s execution capabilities and strategic vision for blockchain infrastructure. Soneium has achieved notable growth since its mainnet launch in January 2025. The Ethereum Layer 2 network has processed over 500 million transactions and attracted 5.4 million active wallets. More than 250 decentralized applications currently operate on the platform, establishing Soneium as a prominent player in the Layer 2 ecosystem. The Startale App functions as the primary access point to Soneium’s ecosystem. It integrates wallet functionality with asset management and application access. Startale USD (USDSC) provides a unified settlement layer that connects applications, users, and payment systems across the network. Startale Group announced the investment through its official social med...