IYK secures $16.8 million in a seed spherical led by a16z

IYK, an acronym for If You Know and a shorter model of IYKYK (If You Know You Know), has mentioned that it has secured $16.8 million in a seed spherical. The spherical was led by a16z, its alma mater. Funds raised from the seed spherical will now be invested to launch the IYK platform and onboard a bigger variety of creators and customers.

a16z has echoed the announcement by stating that they’re trying ahead to serving to IYK scale its imaginative and prescient of bringing extra creators and types into the ecosystem. IYK is at present residence to 100 creators. It serves manufacturers like Adidas and Johnnie Walker.

Launched in 2021, IYK has come a great distance in providing providers pertaining to connecting bodily and digital worlds. Usually outlined as bodily, such a service helps manufacturers join with their followers higher and encourage larger neighborhood engagement.

Whereas the seed spherical was led by a16z, it additionally acquired participation from the likes of Collab Foreign money, 1kx, and Lattice Capital, amongst others. Apparently, IYK was beforehand a member of a16z Crypto Startup College. That accelerator program lasts 12 weeks at a16z, the place early-stage startups are nurtured and guided for fulfillment. Tasks that clear the session efficiently are supplied an funding value $500,000 in trade for 7% fairness.

Ryan Ouyang, the co-founder of IYK, was requested in regards to the construction of the capital and the valuation of the enterprise. They’ve, for now, declined to reply questions on valuation and capital construction. Ryan has additionally not make clear the timeline when requested when IYK really started to boost capital.

IYK consists of creators who hail from completely different industries—music, manufacturers, and generic creators. It helps them construct a neighborhood on the grounds of a digi-physical expertise. Merchandise supplied by IYK embody NFC chips that allow manufacturers and creators to tokenize the bodily product. This contains NFTs and is on prime of providing developer APIs and modules.

Creators in IYK additionally hail from the music, vogue, and artwork industries.

What makes IYK a singular member of the business, per an announcement by Ryan, is the power to decide on a ready-to-use expertise with none coding software. They might select to collaborate with a developer to remix or lengthen the expertise. IYK is now working to rent its first enterprise growth govt, with plans to increase the engineering group.

Hiring a enterprise growth govt might take a while, however IYK intends to increase the engineering group on the earliest potential time—that’s, within the quick time period.

As for the Crypto Startup College by a16z, it particularly works with startups within the Web3 area. The in-person program consists of lectures and mentorship, whereby startup members get an opportunity to attach with the Web3 business professional straight.