Messari Raises Seed Funding for ICO Answer to EDGAR

Messari, the startup aiming to create the crypto-equivalent of Crunchbase or the SEC's EDGAR system, has raised a new seed funding round.

A number of industry firms backed the round – the exact amount of which wasn't disclosed – including Anthemis Group, Blockchain Capital, CoinFund, Digital Asset Investment Company, Danhua Capital, Kindred Ventures, Rising Tide, Semantic Ventures, SparkLabs Global and Underscore Venture Capital.

As CoinDesk previously reported, Messari is envisioned as a database for crypto-assets, with the idea being that the open-source tool would nudge the ecosystem closer toward self-regulation. CEO Ryan Selkis said that the funds will be used to build out the startup's development resources, with an eye to begin testing its first product as early as the second quarter of this year.

Notably, while Selkis did not rule out the idea of a token sale, he told CoinDesk that Messari would focus on developing its product in the short-term, citing regulatory uncertainty around token projects.

"We don't want to pigeonhole ourselves until we have a better idea," he said. As a result, the beta project he expects to be released in the next few months will not incorporate a token.

The information stored will include a project's funding figures, development history, governance structure and supply schedules.

"We're going to crowd-source as much information on these token projects as possible, but that only gets us so far," he explained. "The second stage is when we think about enforceability, and how we can create social pressure or maybe legitimate regulatory pressure on projects to abide by certain standards and report on an ongoing basis."

Ultimately, the goal is to automate that reporting process, setting up tools for investors to more easily research a project and its associated token.

Disclosure: Ryan Selkis was formerly managing director of CoinDesk.

Library image via Shutterstock

Stan Higgins contributed reporting.