‘Social profile’ nabs healthy seed investment from insiders with new digital ID vision

A pair of Web3-focused blockchain venture funds have led a $2 million seed round into similarly Web3-focused digital ID verifier Nametag.

Nametag describes itself as a “social profile” that people can use to “showcase their digital collections and accomplishments on the platforms they use most.”

The money will be used to help people “take ownership of their own digital identities” and build new online relationships, according to a prepared statement from 18-month-old Nametag. There are 50,000 people with profile holders, according to the company.

Funds OKX Ventures and GSRV led the seed.

Also participating in the round were Coinbase Ventures, Alchemy Ventures, Continue Capital, Mask Network, Project Galaxy, Cryptodog, Spencer Yang and Wesley Fei.

Nametag has a web extension enabling people to preview verified credentials called nokens and badges. A credential carries a range of data pertinent to the holder, including game rank, the names of elusive but popular followers and online activity. User profiles reportedly can be found on Discord and YouTube.

The startup’s executives boast that they will be “the catalyst for the gamification of the Internet.” In fact, they say that will enroll 100 million users into crypto.

It all revolves around ID verification. In a sense, one’s unique identifying and, presumably self-esteem-fluffing, elements become the avatar in the metaverse.

Co-lead investor GSRV considers itself a global Web3 institutional investor. Fund partner Wei Li Tan, in a prepared statement, said, “Nametag is enabling users to form universal social identities.”

OKX Ventures has put money into basic Web3 infrastructure that will improve its performance and expand capacity. Trading and financial projects are a focus.

OKX is also a cryptocurrency exchange with related services.

This post was updated at 12:32pm Eastern on December 22, 2022 to remove a reference to a similarly-named company.

Article Topics

digital ID  |  digital identity  |  funding  |  identity verification  |  investment  |  startup  |  web3