Teneo Secures $3 Million to Build a User-Owned Social Media Data Economy

Zug, Switzerland, February 13th, 2025, Chainwire

Teneo Protocol, the DePIN democratizing social media data access, secured $3 million in seed funding. The round was led by prominent venture funds RockawayX and Borderless, with co-lead participation from Generative Ventures and others. This funding round will aid Teneo's mission to revolutionize the data economy by rewarding users for unlocking public social media data. The investment will also empower Teneo to build up momentum as its global network already counts several million users.

Social media platforms generate a massive amount of data, a valuable resource for businesses and researchers. However, accessing and using this data for AI development is becoming increasingly difficult. Platforms such as Reddit, once a valuable source for AI training data, now charge businesses for access, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. These ‘walled gardens’ threaten to hinder AI innovation and its potentially transformative impact across sectors.

Building on peaq, the layer-1 for the Machine Economy, Teneo is unlocking social media data for Web3 and Web2 builders through the power of the community. The Teneo Community Node is a Web3 browser extension allowing anyone to contribute to a growing data network by collecting public posts from platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit. In exchange, users are rewarded with Teneo Points, which they will be able to convert into Teneo Tokens after the network launches its native token. This DePIN project opens up new possibilities for AI, finance, marketing, and other industries reliant on real-time social data.

“This seed funding is a huge milestone for Teneo and shows just how powerful our mission is – to put data ownership back into the hands of the people,” said Leroy Hofer, CEO & Co-Founder of Teneo Protocol. “With the support of our incredible investors, we’re doubling down on developing the Teneo Community Node, making it easier for people to unlock public social media data and earn rewards for the value they create. We’re just getting started, and I can’t wait to see what we’ll build together.”

The Teneo Community Node project has already gained significant traction, with over 3.9 million users across 191 countries installing the extension. Over 1.1 million people have connected their digital wallets to the platform, a key indicator of the strong user engagement on the platform.

“We are excited to partner with Teneo and help them deliver on their vision to give data ownership to the people. By coordinating the already existing social media user base into a DePin network, Teneo materially lowers the cost of accessing social media data, unlocking previously prohibitively costly use cases in AI, finance, marketing, and other sectors. We can’t wait to see what innovative use cases Teneo drives.” says Marek Sandrik, Partner at RockawayX

Álvaro Gracia, DePIN Partner at Borderless added: “We’re investing in Teneo because we see an immense opportunity to capitalize on the convergence of DePIN, data economy, and scalable decentralized solutions, positioning them as a key player in the future of data-driven innovation.”

Lex Sokolin, Partner at Generative Ventures states: “DePIN is the next foundational growth sector of Web3. Teneo unlocks the value of social network data at unprecedented scale as we enter a new era of AI and community-driven financial activity. We are thrilled to support the team and the users of Teneo protocol in exploring these emerging economic models”

About Teneo Protocol

Teneo Protocol is on a mission to decentralize data ownership and reward individuals for the value they create. Through the Teneo Community Nodes, Teneo empowers users to unlock public social media data and earn rewards for it—all while maintaining privacy and security. With over 3.9 million users worldwide and 15+ million daily data transfers, Teneo is transforming the way data is accessed, shared, and valued. For more information, visit www.teneo.pro.