Sony Invests Additional $13M in Startale as Soneium Blockchain Surpasses 500M Transactions

Startale Group secured an additional $13 million investment from Sony Innovation Fund, deepening a partnership focused on building blockchain infrastructure for entertainment, intellectual property and artificial intelligence applications, the blockchain developer announced today in a statement.

The follow-on investment marks Sony's continued backing of Startale since the company's September 2023 seed round. The partnership expanded through Sony Block Solutions Labs, the joint venture behind Soneium, an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain co-developed by the two companies.

The investment reinforces Sony's blockchain strategy as the company builds infrastructure at the intersection of entertainment and distributed ledger technology. The partnership aims to advance new models for IP-led platforms, creator-centric monetization and fan engagement as the industry navigates the AI era.

Soneium has processed over 500 million transactions since launching its mainnet in January 2025, with 5.4 million active wallets and more than 250 live decentralized applications, according to Startale. The network has positioned itself as an entertainment-focused blockchain platform.

The Startale App serves as the primary gateway to the Soneium ecosystem, integrating wallet functionality, asset management and application access. Startale USD provides a settlement layer connecting applications, users and payments across the network.

"Startale has been an important partner to Sony since the early days of Soneium," said Sota Watanabe, CEO of Startale Group. "Our vision is to bring the world on-chain, and Sony's continued support strengthens our ability to deliver the infrastructure required to realize that vision at global scale."

The partnership targets infrastructure for onchain entertainment where intellectual property, creators and communities converge as generative AI reshapes content creation and distribution. Sony brings entertainment industry expertise and technology capabilities, while Startale provides blockchain infrastructure knowledge.

Kazuhito Hadano, CEO of Sony Ventures Corporation, said Startale works across blockchain infrastructure and applications with a global perspective focused on enabling new value flows through onchain technologies.