Share this article
Startbahn Raises $10M for Mission to Protect Artists' Rights With NFTs
The platform provides traceability and authentication of artworks using NFTs to protect creators' copyright.
Updated May 9, 2023, 3:19 a.m. Published May 13, 2021, 3:00 p.m.
Startbahn, a Tokyo-based art-tech company, has completed a $10 million Series B capital raise that will fund growth and development of its Startrail blockchain.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The platform provides traceability of artworks using technology such as non-fungible tokens (NFT). The funding will go toward developing Startrail's infrastructure and certification app, ensuring interoperability with "new-generation" NFTs and accelerating the company's global expansion plans.
See: What Are NFTs and How Do They Work?
The round was led by investment firm Miyako Capital and Edge Capital, the early-stage venture capital arm of the University of Tokyo. Miwa Taguchi, OPS, SX Capital, TBS Innovation Partner, iSGS Investment Works and other investors also participated, per a press release Thursday.
Utilizing smart contracts, Startrail's automatically executing rule sets, including those relating to royalty rights, are designed to protect the intellectual property of artists. The blockchain is able to record the reliability, authenticity and traceability of artworks from provenance, according to the company.
Also read: Coinbase, SoftBank Back $26M Funding for Brazilian Crypto Asset Manager Hashdex
“We have been working on blockchain projects in the art domain for a long time," Startbahn CEO Taihei Shii said. "Now that we have gained recognition and trust in the Japanese market and [as] the global NFT market continues to develop, I believe that this is the best time for us to expand our ecosystem worldwide.”
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
JPMorgan Pushes Deeper Into Tokenization With Galaxy's Debt Issuance on Solana
Galaxy’s onchain debt deal, where JP Morgan acted as arranger, was settled in USDC stablecoin and backed by Coinbase and Franklin Templeton.
What to know:
- J.P. Morgan arranged Galaxy Digital’s commercial paper issuance on the Solana blockchain, one of the first of its kind in the U.S.
- Coinbase and Franklin Templeton bought the short-term debt instrument, settled in USDC
- Tokenization of real-world assets is gaining traction, with projections suggesting the market could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033.
Top Stories
