BULLISH 📈 : Sony Innovation Fund invests $13M in Startale’s Soneium Network

Startale Group Receives $13 Million Investment from Sony

Startale Group secured a $13 million follow-on investment from Sony Innovation Fund on January 29, 2026.
This funding increases Sony Group Corp.’s involvement with Startale and its Ethereum Layer 2 network, Soneium.
The investment follows roughly a year after Soneium’s mainnet launched in January 2025.
This round marks the first close of Startale's Series A, but valuation details remain undisclosed.
Sony's operational and governance roles are unchanged, maintaining the existing partnership structure.

Soneium Network Performance

Soneium transitioned to mainnet in January 2025, processing around 524 million transactions since then.
For comparison, approximately 442 million transactions occurred on Avalanche and about 383 million on Algorand.
Wallet growth reached 5.4 million active wallets, supporting over 250 live applications.
Startale is recognized as a core contributor within the Astar Collective, enhancing ecosystem collaboration through shared incentives.

Soneium operates via Sony Block Solutions Labs, integrating wallet features, asset control, and app access in the Startale App.
Startale USD (USDSC) is live on Soneium mainnet, serving as a native settlement layer across apps and payments.
USDSC will be the primary payment method on the network.
Soneium was initially introduced in August 2024, focusing on entertainment, gaming, and consumer apps.
Following its launch, Soneium released NFT-based fan tools linked to Sony entertainment assets.