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Sending Labs, which aims to provide an easier way for developers and users to create and interact with decentralized applications (dapps) built around communication, has raised $12.5 million in a seed funding round co-led by Insignia Venture Partners, MindWorks Capital, and Signum Capital. The company also announced the beta launch of its first two products.

The startup's flagship product is the SendingNetwork, a software development kit (SDK) that helps developers create secure dapps that include in-app or cross-app chats, notifications, wallet or decentralized ID logins and non-fungible token (NFT) transactions. There is also SendingMe, an encrypted, decentralized group chat platform built on the SendingNetwork. Users have full control of their identification, data and assets. Communities have full autonomy on interactions, engagement and rewards.

Decentralized ownership, a key tenet of crypto, has garnered even more attention after the collapse of multibillion-dollar crypto exchange FTX. Web3 – a vertical often centered around communities – has a particular responsibility to give users control over their assets and identities.

“We firmly believe that Web3 and decentralized group messaging is the first step to return data ownership back to the user,” Sending Labs co-founder and CEO Joe Yu said in a statement. “Closing this funding round and launching our beta simultaneously shows a clear vote of confidence in our products and their potential to spark holistic Web3 growth. This can only be done by creating tools that work for builders creating its architecture and for users harnessing its community-building power.”

The Austin, Texas-based company was co-founded by Yu and Mason Yang, who also co-founded MoboTap, the company behind early Android-based mobile app Dolphin.

Other investors backing the round included K3 Ventures, Lingfeng Innovation Fund, UpHonest Capital and Aipollo Investment.

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