IO Research Raises $30m from OKX, Solana Labs for Decentralized AI Computing Power Marketplace

• IO Research has announced that it raised $30 million from industry leaders, including OKX, Solana Labs and Hack VC, in its Series A funding round.
• Through io.net, the startup allows users to share their idle GPUs with AI companies for use in processes that require high computing power, all on the blockchain.

A startup that connects users with unused computing power to artificial intelligence (AI) companies needing these computing resources, all on the blockchain, has raised $30 million from leading crypto players, including Solana Labs.

IO Research, the biggest decentralized network for GPU computing, announced the funding on Wednesday, revealing it would channel the funds to building out its primary product, io.net. The startup added that it will also use the funding to expand its staff to be better positioned to cater to service demand.

Aside from Solana Labs, other investors in the company included cryptocurrency exchange giant OKX, NFT heavyweight Animoca Brands, and Hack VC, a Web3 investment firm whose portfolio includes successes such as Ethereum incubator ConsenSys and Helium blockchain.

Multicoin Capital—an investor in Bakkt, Lido, Dfinity and Solana—also participated in the fundraising. In her comments, investment partner Shayon Sengupta noted that Multicoin’s investment was led by a belief that AI still requires massive investment in computing resources.

She stated:

Industry analysts are still radically underestimating how much compute power will be needed to fuel the next generation of AI (applications).

Kairos Capital, which also participated in the funding round, commented:

Their ground-breaking idea to become the world leading decentralized GPU platform blew us away. They’re not just playing the game; they’re changing it.

IO Research’s fundraising indicates that investors reignited interest in crypto and blockchain companies. According to PitchBook, VC funding for crypto rose in Q4 last year to $1.9 billion, the first increase since March 2022.

IO Research Fuses Blockchain With AI

Blockchain and artificial intelligence have been hailed as the two most era-defining inventions in recent times. AI has especially taken the spotlight since ChatGPT blew over. While worth over $200 billion, the AI market cap is expected to surpass $1.8 trillion by 2030. PwC further estimates that AI will contribute over $15.7 trillion to the global economy by the end of the decade.

Integrating the two technologies is paying off, with the CoinDesk Indices Computing Index, which tracks crypto tokens linked with AI projects, shooting up 44% in the past two months.

IO Research is fusing the two technologies, allowing users to contribute to AI processing while guaranteeing them the transparency that comes with blockchain.

Through io.net, users can register their unused graphics processing units (GPUs), which the AI companies then rent to power their intensive and complex algorithms. Everyone in this ecosystem benefits—the AI firms access GPUs at a fraction of the cost and without the concern of maintenance or servicing costs. The GPU owners profit from their unused GPU capacity while still keeping hold of their assets. The entire process is documented and logged on the Solana blockchain, ensuring that transparency is upheld.