Web3 newsletter Paragraph raises $5M and takes over blogging platform Mirror – Business
Web3 newsletter publishing platform Paragraph raised $5 million in new funding on Thursday in addition to acquiring Mirror, a blockchain-based blogging platform that will help the company elevate its position in taking on traditional publishing with self-ownership of content.
The fundraise was led by Coinbase Ventures and Union Square Ventures. Paragraph previously raised $1.7 million in pre-seed funding led by Lemniscap in 2022, including this round brings the total raised by the company to $6.7 million.
Colin Armstrong, founder and chief executive of Paragraph, launched the company in October 2021 with the mission to give writers, decentralized autonomous organizations, nonfungible token developers and other members of the blockchain community greater control over content distribution and monetization.
The platform works by allowing content creators to encapsulate their content through the ownership through nonfungible tokens, which are a type of blockchain-based token that represent the ownership of digital assets. These digital items can be images, files, music and video game items.
The tokens can be bought, sold and traded for cryptocurrencies as well as exchanged for money, providing a monetization stream for creators. In the case of Paragraph they represent newsletter memberships that are represented by NFTs and the tokens allow writers to gate different portions of their newsletters and monetize their content.
“At Paragraph, we’ve always strongly believed that novel onchain primitives can redefine the landscape of publishing,” said Armstrong. “We’ve helped thousands of creators build direct relationships with their audience.”
Writers at Paragraph gain access to a number of tools, including email automation that allow them to reach members when they want and customize contacts. The company also introduced an artificial intelligence-powered writing assistant to help creators write better and faster. Using underlying blockchain-based technology and NFTs, creators can also release collectible token-based content that can be bought, sold and traded by newsletter community members, adding revenue streams.
Mirror, founded at the end of 2020, operates an Ethereum-based blog publishing platform that allows writers with tools that allows them to write and publish using decentralized technology. Its toolset includes decentralized storage for content, decentralized domains, crowdfunding campaigns, NFT tooling and collectible writing NFTs.
“When I founded Mirror, I bet on the potential for platforms that merge content with marketplaces of value,” said Mirror founder Denis Nazarov. “What would it look like to give creators simple web3 primitives so that they could own their relationship with their fans and supporters, create new business models and new forms of patronage?”
With the acquisition, Armstrong will remain CEO of Paragraph and Nazarov will remain on as an adviser. For customers, nothing will change in the short term and both Mirror and Paragraph will continue as usual as the two companies work to become a single platform for decentralized publishing.