Salsa, a messaging platform designed for Web3, has recently obtained $2 million in funding during a pre-seed round led by IDEO CoLab VC and Inflection.xyz. With this capital, Salsa aims to broaden the reach of its newly launched mobile application among brands that are seeking a crypto-centric approach to interact with their target audiences.
Salsa’s mobile app, currently in beta, facilitates users in discovering and engaging with appropriate individuals and brands. By logging into Salsa with their decentralized ID or wallet, the app suggests what users have in common, utilizing on-chain data, such as attending a recent event or participating in a Web3 community. The purpose is to migrate users from Web2 platforms like Telegram or Discord, which do not have a native understanding of on-chain data, resulting in a disconnected user experience.
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In an interview with CoinDesk, Salsa’s CEO Helena Gagern, who co-founded the startup last year alongside Chief Technology Officer Grace Wang, stated that “nobody wants to communicate with a wallet address that looks like ‘0x something something.’ Without any context of who this person is, you’re unlikely to have a substantial conversation with them.”
She further added that the startup “offers a great deal of flexibility in terms of comprehending the actual identity of an individual behind a wallet address, while maintaining their anonymity.”
In collaboration with POAP, a “Proof of Attendance Protocol” that enables users to create digital collectibles such as event attendance, the company is launching its app. Notable brands, including Adidas, Ebay, Goldman Sachs, and Vogue, use POAP. Salsa’s mobile app allows users to develop and obtain POAPs within the app, and it integrates seamlessly with the POAP mobile app.
In addition to Superscrypt, a range of angel investors, such as Nader Al-Naji, Liam Horne, Dan Romero, Balaji Srinivasan, Henri Stern, Khan Tasinga, Patricio Worthalter, and Gmoney, also participated in the funding round.
