Startup Raises $1.5M to Make DAO Creation as Easy as Starting a Group Chat

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) have established themselves as a core part of Web 3, but could they have use cases outside of crypto? Some venture capital firms are betting they do.

Squads, an application that can be used to create DAOs on the Solana blockchain, has raised a $1.5 million seed round, the company announced Wednesday.

The round was led by Collab+Currency with participation from Reciprocal Ventures, Volt Capital, Chaotic Capital, 6thman Ventures, Republic Capital, 8186 Capital and Solana Capital.

The startup combines all the essential components of a DAO such as deployment, treasury and vault management, on-chain voting and chat into one portal, with an accessible interface that makes starting a DAO “as easy as starting a group chat,” Squads CEO Stepan Simkin said in a press release.

The company says it will use the funding for the beta release of its core product with a mainnet, or live, release to follow.

While DAOs have become a common structure for groups in crypto, Squads believes their utility can extend to companies outside of those industries including freelancers banding together for contract work, investment clubs pooling resources, gaming guilds coordinating accounts and even sports leagues managing equipment are all examples of organizations that could benefit from a DAO structure.

Stephen McKeon, partner at Collab+Currency, said Squads “sees a future where DAOs become a commonplace structure for organizing economic activity. We believe that rather than working for a corporation or nonprofit, many people will work for a protocol someday. So does the Squads team.”