The seed round’s close profited Spatial Lab’s founder, Iddris Sandu, as one of the top youngest Black men, to raise more than $10 million. Spatial Labs has now raised $14 million.
On January 26, Spatial Labs, a technology infrastructure company announced the closing of a $10 million seed round which was led by Blockchain Capital. Sandu said it took nearly six months to close his round. In 2021 he developed Spatial Labs to launch shopping experiences via augmented reality.
In 2022, the company introduced LNQ, a popular product powered by Polygon. LNQ is a blockchain-enabled microchip that allows brands to market and create trusted programs directly into their product ecosystem. Earlier, the company gained profits by marketing clothes designed by Sandu called Gen One Hardwear, which were embedded with LNQ.
Spatial Labs founder said, “We want to give and create a new nutritional fact ecosystem for the products that you put on your body, as well as the objects you put into your home.”
Upcoming developments on Spatial Labs
According to the Spatial Labs website, a new type of marketplace to sell, buy and trade products from brands using the LNQ chip platform will be fully launched in 2023. With the fresh capital, Spatial Labs is planning to expand its microchip technology into various industries like media and entertainment.
And it is also planning to launch a new device called Node to simplify the process of developing and deploying augmented reality experiences. Sandu said, “We are also thinking about reducing the barrier of entry into web3 and augmented reality using our chip technology.”
Black founders are facing difficulties in raising funds
According to the latest Crunchbase data report in Q4 2022, the US Black startup founders raised nearly $264 million out of $33.6 billion in venture capital. Last year in US venture capital, they raised $2.254 billion out of $215.9 billion, a 1% drop from the 1.3% raise in 2021.
In 2022 only 1% of venture capital funds were allocated to Black founders. Last year web3 startups globally raised $21.5 billion, and $60 billion was donated to US Black web3 founders, one of whom was Sandu.
Iddris Sandu said that due to funding discrimination, there is a slight difference between a bear and a bull market for Black founders. He said, “It’s always crypto winter being a Black founder. It’s challenging, but it’s worth it.”
Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/01/28/spatial-labs-founder-raises-10-million-in-seed-funding/