We’re excited to bring Transform 2022 back in person on July 19 and pretty much July 20-28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful conversations and exciting networking opportunities. Register today!
Similar to the way Web2 was born and then grew exponentially over a period of more than 20 years, the new Web3 – which will feature the metaverse, cryptocurrencies, blockchain and a host of augmented reality and other 3D features – is predicted to To go. As Web2 saw with Yahoo, Google, Firefox, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and many others, Web3 will have to have many basic anchor platforms that many people can rely on.
For context, Web3 refers to the next version of the Internet, which will focus on decentralization and user ownership.
Born in 2020, Internxt announced late last week that it’s been valued at $40 million, has a hot product and aims to be one of those anchor companies for the new web. The Valencia, Spain-based startup is building distributed internet services designed to compete with those currently offered by Google, Microsoft and Amazon. All Internxt services are designed for Web3, deploying blockchain and end-to-end encryption to protect user privacy, founder and CEO Fran Villalba Segarra told VentureBeat.
Web3 applications have become increasingly valued and publicly accessible in recent years. Internet users are becoming aware of the lack of security of personal data by current services. As such, projects such as Brave, Signal, DuckDuckGo, Ethereum and Internxt are gaining popularity and support, Segarra said.
Millions of users are now looking for alternatives to platforms like Facebooks and Google — which collect and position users’ personal information for profit — and are switching to services built on technologies that emphasize user privacy and data sovereignty, Segarra said. Companies building on these zero-knowledge platforms are attracting investors who want to speculate on the next big winners in the industry, he said.
Platform that protects personal data
To help facilitate this new internet model, Internxt wants to profile itself as a home for all these new protected personal data and files. This is an open-source, blockchain-based cloud storage service that provides safe, secure, and GDPR-compliant digital storage and advocates for user privacy rights, Segarra said.
“We’ve always known what to bring because there are a lot of Web3 companies that nobody understands,” Segarra said. “So we try to make things that people really want to use. And we’ve actually done that pretty well with Web3. There is a lot of hype around Web3 right now, everyone is talking about it.”
“We’re right on time as we launched our service a few years ago when this wasn’t a ‘thing’ yet. And now we’re very, very well positioned — you know, as a Google alternative to Web3,” Segarra added.
But this is a completely unique business model. Internxt is a freemium software-as-a-service (SaaS) service with 1 million active users that positions itself as an alternative to Google Drive. Basic-level users can get 10GB of free storage service in the cloud from Internxt and can encrypt, store and share personal or business files in total privacy, Segarra said. Additional storage can be had for prices ranging from 80 cents to $9 per month for 20 GB to terabytes, he said.
Google Drive alternative
In 2021 alone, Segarra said, Internxt’s revenue and user base grew by more than 1,000% and said he is confident the company will produce similar growth rates this year.
“You can use it (Internxt) in your web browser. You can use it on your phone, you can get it in the app store or whatever,” Segarra said. “And you can use it in Internet Explorer or any other browser; you can use it as you would Google Photos or Google Drive; you will be able to view your photos or whatever. The same goes for macOS windows. We’re everywhere and it’s free.”
Flush with cash after raising €4 million ($4,289,360 USD) in new VC funding from investors including Spanish financier Balaji S. Srinivasan, media firm Telefonica and others, Internxt is currently in an enviable financial position, said Segarra.
“Are we very cash efficient? We have a gross margin of 90%; we generated $4 million in revenue of $4.5 million this year. We use all this money directly from our earnings,” Segarra said. “We all use that to grow sustainably. We are very happy with our cash position.”
Lead investor Srinivasan, a former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), is no stranger to tech startups. He is the co-founder of Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), Counsyl (acquired by Myriad), Teleport (acquired by Topia), and Coin Center. He was Coinbase’s CTO until 2019 before becoming one of the most prominent angel investors in technology and Web3, with early stakes in Alchemy, Chainlink, Clubhouse and others.
VentureBeat’s mission is to be a digital city square for tech decision makers to learn about transformative business technology and transactions. Learn more about membership.
This post Web3 startup Internxt, worth $40 million, wants to compete with Google Drive
was original published at “https://venturebeat.com/2022/04/25/web3-startup-internxt-valued-at-40m-aims-to-compete-with-google-drive/”