Sony Ventures has increased its investment in Startale Group with a fresh $13 million commitment through the Sony Innovation Fund, marking the first close of the company’s Series A round. According to a Jan. 29 announcement , the latest capital injection lifts Startale’s total disclosed funding to $20 million and deepens its long-running partnership with Sony, which began in 2023 with a $3.5 million seed round led by Sony Network Communications. Founded as a spin-off from the Astar Foundation, Startale Labs serves as the technical infrastructure partner for Soneium, an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain co-developed with Sony Block Solutions Labs. Built on Optimism’s OP Stack, the network is designed to support a range of entertainment-centric and general-purpose applications. Since launching its mainnet in January 2025, Soneium has processed over 500 million transactions and currently supports more than 250 active decentralised applications, according to the company. Further, the ecosystem has seen integrations from Uniswap, Aave, Plume, and LINE, among others. Uniswap enabled native support for Soneium in May last year, while Aave integrated its lending protocol and stablecoin GHO the following month. Plume, a platform focused on real-world asset tokenization, partnered with Soneium to stream institutional yield into the network via its SkyLink interoperability engine. Startale has also introduced the Startale App, described as a super-app that will serve as the primary user gateway to Soneium. The application remains in beta and does not yet have an official launch date. “Startale has been an important partner to Sony since the early days of Soneium,” said Startale Group CEO Sota. “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.” Sony is betting on web3 infrastructure The investment in Startale forms part of Sony’s broader strategy to position itself as a foundational player in blockchain infrastructure. Last month, Sony Bank, a subsidiary of Sony Financial Group, announced plans to issue a US dollar-pegged stablecoin for the US market. The stablecoin, expected as early as fiscal 2026, is being developed in collaboration with digital finance firm Bastion Platforms. Separately, Sony Electronics Singapore has begun accepting USDC for online purchases of consumer electronics, following a partnership with Crypto.com. The payments are enabled through Crypto.com Pay, making Sony the first electronics brand in Singapore to integrate stablecoin payments at checkout. Meanwhile, it has also moved forward with S.BLOX, a licensed crypto exchange that Sony acquired through its 2023 takeover of Amber Japan, formerly known as WhaleFin. The platform has since been rebranded and integrated with the Soneium blockchain, allowing users to trade assets and access exclusive campaigns, including a BTC rewards program, directly within Sony’s digital ecosystem. The post Sony Ventures boosts Startale funding with $13M bet on Soneium blockchain appeared first on Invezz
