Multicoin Leads $2M Round in Storage Startup

There’s an multitude of decentralized file storage options, but that doesn’t mean using them is easy.

In a bid to be the developer gateway to the likes of Sia, Filecoin and Storj, Filebase has raised a $2 million seed round led by Multicoin Capital and joined by Version One Ventures and angel investors such as Messari founder Ryan Selkis.

Object storage is used for saving images on Facebook, music on Spotify and files in web-sharing applications such as Dropbox. 

Well-known object storage platforms include Amazon S3 (also known as Amazon Simple Storage Service), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. In a decentralized twist, Filebase differs from the others because it is an object storage platform that operate atop a number of Web 3 storage networks – not just one.

“Decentralized storage networks are non-trivial to use. They often require developers to implement custom software, unique configurations, or special integrations,” Multicoin Capital managing partner Kyle Samani said in a statement. “This stands in stark contrast to how the vast majority of developers are familiar with storing their data, which is on Amazon S3.”

Boston-based Filebase was founded by CEO Joshua Noble and Chief Operating Officer Zac Cohen in 2019. The firm has developed a browser-based dashboard and an S3-compatible API (application programming interface) to manage data across decentralized storage networks.

Noble told CoinDesk his firm is “renting storage space and storing data on behalf of users.” He said Filebase’s S3-compatible API should be a factor in coaxing developers away from traditional cloud storage providers and into the decentralized web.