How a16z-backed DATA is rethinking its blockchain strategy after $30 million Sui deal
DATA Foundation, formerly known as Story, is shifting its blockchain strategy by shutting down its proprietary layer-1 network and migrating to Sui. After raising $140 million to tokenize intellectual property, the startup realized the market was too saturated and has narrowed its focus to tracking AI training data origins.
Why it matters
This move highlights the ongoing pivot of Web3 startups toward the booming artificial intelligence sector and demonstrates the high operational costs of maintaining independent blockchains.
The move comes after spending years trying to bring intellectual property onchain. But after raising $140 million and building its own blockchain, the company found that changing how the world's intellectual property is licensed was harder than expected.
"We were trying to boil the ocean, and it was a very saturated and entrenched ocean," Andrea Muttoni, CEO of DATA Foundation, told CoinDesk in an interview.
That realization helped drive Story’s rebrand to DATA Foundation in June , when it shifted its attention to the market for AI training data. Four months later, the company is now narrowing its focus further to tracking the origins and usage rights of data used to train artificial intelligence models.
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