‘One-Stop Station’ Digital Identity Service Root Protocol Raises $10M Seed Funding

Root Protocol, a digital identity service aiming to unify access to Web3 platforms, has raised $10 million across two seed rounds.

The funding rounds, which gave Root a $100 million valuation, were led by Animoca Brands and included contributions from a slew of other notable investors, including Signum Capital, Ankr Network, CMS Holdings and angel investors Tekin Salimi and Meltem Demirors.

Root Protocol is building a Web3 operating system that will serve as a digital identity aggregator, becoming “a one-stop station for all things decentralized identity” to make accessing different Web3 platforms a more seamless process, according to an emailed announcement shared with CoinDesk on Friday.

Funding in Web3 projects saw a decline during the bear market of the last 18 months as they were possibly seen as risky and unproven by investors. Root raising a healthy sum at the seed stage may then be a sign that things have changed.

“Securing $10 million was indeed an accomplishment for a Web3 project, especially considering the challenges many projects faced during bear markets,” a Root spokesperson told CoinDesk in an emailed statement. “The funding rounds for Root drew significant attention due to the involvement of various investment ventures and long term relationship with our partners.”