CoinFund Backs $10M Raise for Irys, a Datachain Startup Targeting the $3 Trillion Data Economy

Crypto-native investment firm CoinFund has led a $10 million Series A funding round for Irys, a layer 1 blockchain platform designed to unlock value in the fast-growing global data economy. The raise, which also included participation from Amber Group, Hypersphere, Tykhe Ventures, WAGMI Ventures, Varrock Ventures, Breed VC, and Echo Group, brings Irys’ total funding to $20 million.

Irys positions itself as a “programmable datachain,” aiming to solve what it calls the infrastructure problem of the $3 trillion data market. The platform integrates a data layer with a smart contract execution layer, enabling creators and enterprises to embed licensing, monetization, and access rules directly into data assets. In practice, this would allow data that is typically static—sitting idle in servers or scraped without compensation—to become an active source of economic value.

“The data economy has a massive infrastructure problem,” said Josh Benaron, founder and CEO of Irys. “AI companies scrape trillions of dollars’ worth of content while creators see nothing. Enterprises sit on valuable datasets they can’t monetize. We’re building the infrastructure that finally allows data creators to capture the value they generate.”

Since launching its testnet in January 2025, Irys has processed over 600 million data transactions and connected with more than 80 strategic partners. The platform has also seen adoption across more than 4 million active wallets, demonstrating early traction as it prepares for its mainnet launch. Its architecture is Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible, making it easier for developers to integrate existing applications into the network.

CoinFund partner Einar Braathen compared Irys to the early days of Amazon Web Services, highlighting the potential for disruptive scale. “Irys represents the infrastructure layer for the AI economy,” Braathen said. “Where traditional approaches require piecing together multiple solutions, Irys has created unified infrastructure that makes data programmable. This is the AWS moment for onchain data.”

With AI adoption accelerating worldwide, the ability to securely license and monetize datasets could prove critical. Irys hopes its platform will appeal to both enterprises looking to unlock dormant data assets and individuals seeking fair compensation in an era when generative AI relies heavily on scraped content.

The company plans to deploy its fresh capital toward scaling its infrastructure, expanding its team, and building new institutional partnerships. If successful, Irys could position itself as a key enabler of the next phase of the digital economy—one where data is not just stored, but transacted and monetized natively on-chain.