Sony Innovation Fund Invests $13M in Startale Group’s Soneium Network

Startale Group confirmed a $13 million follow-on investment from Sony Innovation Fund on January 29, 2026.

The funding deepens Sony Group Corp.’s exposure to Startale and its Ethereum Layer 2 network, Soneium.

The investment comes roughly a year after Soneium’s mainnet went live in January 2025.

Startale said the round represents the first close of its Series A. Valuation terms were not disclosed.

Sony’s operational and governance role remains unchanged, and the existing partnership structure will stay intact.

Soneium Network Performance

Soneium transitioned from testnet to mainnet in January 2025. Since then, public block explorer data shows approximately 524 million transactions have been processed.

Over the same period, Nansen data reports about 442 million transactions on Avalanche ​​ AVAX $11.73 24h volatility: 2.6% Market cap: $5.06 B Vol. 24h: $282.56 M and roughly 383 million on Algorand ALGO $0.12 24h volatility: 0.2% Market cap: $1.07 B Vol. 24h: $50.38 M .

Transaction count alone does not measure user demand or value transfer, but it gives a clear view of network load and uptime.

Wallet growth reached 5.4 million active wallets. The network also supports more than 250 live applications.

Meanwhile, Astar Network described Startale as a core contributor within the Astar Collective.

As per the Web3 entity, separate teams will operate independently while staying active in the ecosystem through shared incentives and controlled token design.

Product Stack and Stablecoin Layer

Soneium operates through Sony Block Solutions Labs, a joint venture with Startale. The Startale App acts as the main access point, combining wallet features, asset control, and app access.

This setup places user entry, payments, and applications under one system.

Startale USD, known as USDSC, is live on Soneium mainnet. The stablecoin runs on M0’s platform and serves as a native settlement layer across apps and payments on the network.

USDSC will serve as the primary payment rail on the network, rather than as an add-on token.

Sony and Startale first revealed Soneium in August 2024 as an Ethereum Layer 2 aimed at entertainment, gaming, and consumer apps.

The Minato public testnet and Soneium Spark incubator followed within days. When mainnet launched in January 2025, Soneium introduced NFT-based fan tools tied to Sony entertainment assets.

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