Shopify Backs Thirdweb Web3 Toolkit

It’s becoming increasingly easier to launch web3 products.

On August 25, Thirdweb — a startup behind a developer toolkit to launch blockchain-based apps including games, NFTs, DAOs and marketplaces — raised a $24M Series A funding round led by Haun Ventures with participation from Coinbase and Shopify.

Over 55,000 developers ranging from independent creators to major organizations like Coinbase have deployed more than 150,000 smart contracts using the platform, across six blockchains — with Polygon being the most popular. Projects using Thirdweb are reportedly generating $1.5M in weekly revenue, although Thirdweb is only receiving a small portion of that.

Thirdweb’s funding — especially by e-commerce giant Shopify — represents an investment in onboarding new users to web3. Shopify is used by over 1.7M merchants across the globe. Earlier this year, the platform began allowing store owners to sell NFTs and token-gate their storefronts.

“We wanted to provide blockchain developers with the same kind of easy-to-use infrastructure, and tools, that they have in Web2,” said Thirdweb co-founder Steven Bartlett. Het hinted at an upcoming integration of Thirdweb’s toolkit with Shopify’s store creator, which would theoretically make it much easier for web2 Shopify owners to create NFTs.

“Thirdweb is setting themselves up to be the provider for classic internet companies wishing to leverage web3 without having to skill up in things like contract development and auditing,” Seyi Taylor, founder of web3-Shopify plug-in Shopthru, told The Defiant. “By providing robust tooling accessible with simple APIs and SDKs, they’ll allow existing companies and new developers to stand up projects faster, and hope to establish themselves as the first port of call for new builders in the space.”

“As a result, developer tools that simplify this complexity will be immensely important in bringing the next million developers into the ecosystem,” wrote Haun Ventures’ Chris Ahn and Brett Stodghill in a Mirror post. Haun Ventures is a $1.5B venture fund led by ex-a16z GP Katie Haun. The fund has previously invested in lending protocol Euler and creator-centric NFT marketplace Zora.