Key Points
- PIP Labs, developer of Story Protocol, has secured $80 million in Series B funding led by a16z crypto. The company aims to create a blockchain-based system for intellectual property management in the age of AI.
- Story Protocol seeks to establish a new economic covenant between creators and platforms, ensuring fair compensation and attribution for original content used in AI-generated works.
Funding Details and Investors
PIP Labs, Story Protocol’s Palo Alto-based core developer, has successfully closed an $80 million Series B funding round. The investment was led by venture capital firm a16z crypto, with participation from Polychain Capital, Stability AI’s SVP Scott Trowbridge, K11 founder Adrian Cheng, and digital art collector Cozomo de’ Medici. This latest funding brings PIP Labs’ total capital raised to $140 million, following a $54 million Series A round last year.
Addressing AI’s Impact on Content Creation
The rise of generative AI has begun to disrupt the traditional relationship between content creators and online platforms. AI-powered search engines and social networks increasingly generate comprehensive answers and content without clear attribution to original sources. This shift threatens the incentive structure that has long encouraged creators to publish original work online.
Story Protocol aims to address this challenge by creating a blockchain-based infrastructure that allows creators to register their intellectual property, track its usage, and ensure proper compensation. This system is designed to protect creators’ legal and economic rights while facilitating low-friction, standardized licensing of IP.
Story Protocol’s Vision and Technology
Story Protocol is a Layer 1 blockchain focused on intellectual property management and tokenization. The platform aims to create a foundational infrastructure supporting a new economic relationship between creators and platforms in the AI era.
Key features of Story Protocol include:
- IP registration and tracking
- Usage monitoring
- Standardized licensing
- Revenue sharing mechanisms
These features ensure that original content creators are appropriately rewarded for their work, even as it’s used or adapted by AI systems or other creators.
Applications and Partnerships
Several projects are already building on top of Story Protocol, showcasing its potential applications:
- Magma: A collaborative art platform enabling artists to register their IP and set rules for commercial use, remixing, and AI usage.
- Sekai: An AI storytelling platform that facilitates the co-creation of interactive stories between storytellers, artists, and fans.
- Ablo by Space Runners: A platform allowing users to customize and remix fashion designs using generative AI, with Story handling IP registration, creator attribution, and revenue sharing.
These partnerships demonstrate Story Protocol’s versatility across various creative industries, from digital art to interactive storytelling and fashion design.
Leadership and Expertise
The team behind Story Protocol brings a combination of tech and creative industry experience. CEO and co-founder Seung Yoon Lee previously sold his company, Radish Fiction, to Kakao. Co-founder Jason Zhao, who leads technical development, brings expertise from studying computer science at Stanford and working at DeepMind.
Looking Ahead
As AI continues to reshape the digital landscape, Story Protocol aims to create a future where AI systems and human creators can coexist productively. By modernizing intellectual property management for the AI age, Story Protocol seeks to ensure fair compensation for creators while fostering widespread sharing and collaboration.
The success of this initiative could have far-reaching implications for the future of content creation, distribution, and monetization in an increasingly AI-driven world.
