According to CoinDesk, Fileverse, a Web3 workspace and file management application, has raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed funding round. The investment was led by privacy-focused Gnosis Chain and venture capital firm Factor. Other participants in the round included crypto wallet provider Safe, social media privacy solution Mask Network, decentralized file storage Arweave Ecosystem, its ecosystem incubator Forward Research, Web3 credentials network Galxe, ex-Coinbase Balaji Srinivasan, and various angel investors.

Fileverse offers a decentralized file management and collaboration service, aiming to provide an alternative to centralized providers like Google or Notion by giving users better ownership over their personal data. The platform uses smart contracts and stores encrypted data on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), a popular peer-to-peer file sharing network created by Filecoin developer firm Protocol Labs. This approach avoids reliance on a single server provider. Additionally, Fileverse has developed a tool that is compliant with European data privacy regulation GDPR through cryptographic encryption.

Lukas Schor, co-founder and CEO of Safe, stated that Fileverse is looking to bring advancements in crypto infrastructure and account abstraction to a range of on-chain tools for communication and collaboration. This investment comes as crypto firms face challenges in attracting fresh capital during a difficult crypto winter, with venture capital fundraising dropping to a three-year low, according to Messari data. In 2021, Fileverse raised approximately $280,000 in grants and donations from Gitcoin community members, Polygon, ENS, a16z, Filecoin, and Aurora.