YZi Labs invests in crypto-AI startup Vana, CZ joins as advisor

YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs) has invested an undisclosed amount in Vana, a crypto-AI startup focused on data ownership.

As part of the investment, Binance co-founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, who recently took an active role in YZi Labs following its rebranding from Binance Labs, has joined Vana as an advisor, YZi Labs said Monday. 

"This is a strategic investment closed in January 2025," Vana co-founder Anna Kazlauskas told The Block. "YZi Labs is the sole investor. There are no other investors in this round."

Kazlauskas declined to comment on the structure of the round or post-investment valuation.

YZi Labs' investment comes shortly after Vana launched its mainnet and token last December. The VANA token is currently trading at around $6.25, down over 82% since its launch, according to The Block's VANA price page. VANA currently has a market capitalization of around $192 million and a fully diluted valuation of $747 million.

Beyond YZi Labs, Vana's other high-profile investors include Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures and Polychain Capital, having previously raised $25 million in funding rounds.

What is Vana?

Vana is a San Francisco-based crypto-AI startup founded in 2021 by Kazlauskas and Arthur "Art" Abal, who met in a Massachusetts Institute of Technology class with a shared goal of accelerating AI while enabling broad user participation in new digital economies.

With a focus on data ownership, Vana's Layer 1 blockchain allows users to pool their data into "Data DAOs," earn rewards and retain ownership in the AI models built from their contributions.

"Data DAOs are central to the Vana protocol's vision of user-owned AI," Kazlauskas said. "These entities put groups of users in direct control of their data, aggregating data around specific use cases that can then be monetized to organizations to train AI models."

With fresh funding in hand, Vana said it plans to expand its DataDAO ecosystem, help launch data tokens for over 16 DataDAOs, attract more data contributors, onboard additional DataDAOs and extend data financialization beyond crypto into industries like finance, social media, healthcare and mobility.

YZi Labs' AI focus

Vana marks YZi Labs' first AI investment since its rebranding last month. Before the rebrand, the firm had backed several crypto-AI projects, including Sahara AI and MyShell.

A YZi Labs spokesperson told The Block that the firm's focus has now expanded beyond web3 to include AI and biotech. While it continues exploring opportunities at the intersection of these fields, the firm is also open to investing in standalone AI and biotech projects "to capture the full spectrum of innovation," the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Vana is just one of the projects CZ is currently involved with, according to the spokesperson. They added that CZ is "actively advising" several YZi Labs portfolio companies and remains open to speaking with early-stage founders.

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