LabDAO raises $3.6 million for open source drug discovery and NFT data ownership
In a significant step forward for open source discovery, LabDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), has secured $3.6 million in a funding round. This round was led by Inflection.xyz and Village Global, with notable participants including North Island Ventures, Seed Club Ventures and more.
Along with this announcement, LabDAO launched its PLEX software platform. PLEX is a unique client that allows researchers to interact with the Lab exchange which currently only supports compute services. However, there are plans to incorporate physical laboratory services in the future.
A unique feature of LabDAO is its innovative approach to data ownership. The resulting output from the containerized calculations can be linked to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), allowing researchers to prove ownership of their data.
Niklas Rindtorff, co-founder and CEO of the Openlab Association, emphasized this in an interview with CoinDesk: “Scientists are also creators … They should also be able to create artwork and share it with their followers.” He highlighted the need for cooperation mechanisms and the importance of an exchange where researchers can exchange laboratory and computational services.
As the field of decentralized science (DeSci) grows and attracts a wide range of investors, LabDAO is gaining ground. Earlier this year, health-focused VitaDAO raised $4.1 million in a funding round that included Pfizer’s venture capital arm. LabDAO aims to create a more accessible scientific research and discovery landscape through blockchain technology, facilitating global collaboration and secure data ownership for researchers.
LabDAO’s work marks an important step in the development of scientific research, and shows how blockchain technology can be utilized to optimize resource sharing, collaboration and ownership in the scientific community. With its funding and ongoing development of the PLEX software platform, LabDAO is setting the stage for a future where scientific discovery is decentralized and more accessible to all.
Ultimately, LabDAO’s vision is to democratize science and strengthen the global scientific community. By integrating blockchain technology and the DAO structure, they create an innovative framework that could revolutionize how scientific research is conducted and shared. It will be fascinating to watch the evolution and growth of LabDAO as they continue to build on this exciting start.
