💰 @vangrid_io raises $9M in a Seed round Backed by @HashKey_Capital, @borderless_cap, @Cryptocom_Cap, @animocabrands, @gate_labs, @Maple_block. #Vangrid# turns smartphones into a decentralized spatial data network, feeding real-world ground truth to robots & autonomous systems. 👉 #DePIN# #PhysicalAI# #Funding# #Web3‌‌#

There's a pretty interesting idea behind @vangrid_io Usually, AI infrastructure starts with expensive hardware and then builds the software around it. Vangrid flips that model. The sensor is already in people's pockets. If smartphones can capture useful spatial data, you don't need to deploy dedicated hardware everywhere just to understand the physical world. Of course, that creates a different set of problems: incentives, data quality, privacy, verification, and figuring out how to aggregate everything reliably. But I think that's an interesting tradeoff. Dedicated hardware can give you consistency, but scaling it is expensive and slow. A network powered by everyday devices is naturally messier, yet it could scale much faster. The important part isn't really the camera. It's the coordination layer that makes all those individual observations useful, verifiable, and connected. That's what makes @vangrid_io interesting to me.

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Good morning CT. Physical AI doesn’t just need better models. It needs better data. That’s where @vangrid_io gets interesting. Vangrid turns everyday smartphones into a distributed 3D sensing network: → Real world locations captured on phones → Enterprise driven bounties → Video → 3D spatial data → Privacy handled at the edge → Data proofs verified on Base + EAS → USDC payouts after validation And the network is already moving: 100K+ validated captures 1,300+ attestations $9M raised The bigger idea: Real world data → AI → Enterprise demand → Contributor rewards → More data. Not just another DePIN narrative. Vangrid is building the spatial data layer Physical AI could depend on.

GM CT fam, Happy Friday. Been digging a bit more into @vangrid_io lately. What caught my attention isn’t just more sensors everywhere. It’s the idea of using devices we already carry to help AI understand the physical world. Think about it: → Smartphones as distributed sensors → Real-world data being captured → Verified onchain → Data provenance → Settlements on Base And the scale is kinda crazy. There are billions of smartphones out there. Vangrid has already mentioned 100K+ verified captures, so this isn’t just a cool concept sitting on paper. But imo, the real test comes later. How useful is all this data for Physical AI and world models? Getting the data is one thing. Getting machines to actually trust and use it is another. That’s the part I’m watching with @vangrid_io Could decentralized perception become a major data layer for autonomous systems? Let’s see where this goes.

Why build millions of new sensors when millions of them already sit in people’s pockets? that’s the interesting part of @vangrid_io your smartphone already has the camera, GPS, sensors and compute. Vangrid turns those existing devices into distributed sensing nodes, capturing real-world data and pushing it through reconstruction + verification. no new hardware supply chain. no extra device to manufacture. no waiting for deployment. just phones becoming infrastructure. and that data can become the spatial layer for Physical AI, robotics and autonomous systems. the phone isn’t the product. it’s the sensor.

Projects Fundraising on RootData (Aug 3 - Aug 9) Last week, 11 blockchain companies/projects received funding. 💎 @yellowcard_app — Licensed stablecoins infrastructure provider, raised $40M in strategic funding from @scventuresDNA, @Sony_Innov_Fund, @polychaincap, @bcap & others. 💎 @jpyc_official — Japanese Yen stablecoin, raised $38M in Series B2 from AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings. 💎 @vangrid_io — DePin infrastructure, raised $9M in seed round from @HashKey_Capital, @Cryptocom_Cap, @animocabrands & others. 💎 @Magne_Ai — AI-native Web3 smartphone, raised $2.64M in strategic round from @GaeaVentures, @Titans_ventures & @0x_Go2Mars.