Sony Ventures Corporation, the investment arm of Japanese tech giant Sony Group, has made a $13 million follow-on investment in Singapore-based blockchain developer Startale Group. This investment, made through the Sony Innovation Fund, represents the first tranche of Startale's Series A fundraising round.
This latest capital infusion brings Startale's total disclosed funding to $20 million. The company previously secured a $3.5 million seed round from Sony in 2023 and an additional $3.5 million seed extension from UOB Venture Management and Samsung Next in 2024.
The investment solidifies the strategic partnership between Sony and Startale, which is the co-developer of Soneium, an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain built using Optimism's OP Stack. Soneium, designed for both entertainment industry use cases and general-purpose activities, launched its mainnet in January 2025. According to a release, the network has since processed over 500 million transactions, launched 5.4 million active wallets, and supports more than 250 live decentralized applications (dApps).
"Startale has been an important partner to Sony since the early days of Soneium," said Startale CEO Sota Watanabe. "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."
The investment coincides with the launch of the Startale App, a super-app designed as the entry point to the Soneium ecosystem. Soneium is targeting use cases like audience building, IP licensing, AI integrations, and stablecoin settlements, with USD Coin (USDC) acting as a unified settlement layer on the network. The ecosystem is already attracting projects, including real-world asset platform Plume and messaging app LINE, which is using Soneium for NFT-based mini-apps.
Furthermore, Sony's involvement extends beyond capital. Jun Watanabe, President of Sony Network Communications, has joined Startale's board, indicating a deep, long-term strategic partnership. "Startale is a company working across the blockchain space, from infrastructure to applications. With a global perspective, the team is focused on enabling new value flows built on on-chain technologies," said Sony Ventures Corporation CEO Kazuhito Hadano.
Startale also operates Astar Network, frequently cited as Japan's largest public blockchain. The company's work with Sony and other institutions, such as SBI Holdings—which tapped Startale to develop a regulated tokenized equities trading platform—positions it as a key builder of institutional-grade Web3 and fintech infrastructure.
