The startup, which creates a decentralized market for information, will use the capital to further the development of its protocol.

Freatic, which aims to create a decentralized market for information, has raised $3.6 million in a funding round led by venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The new capital will help Freatics construct the building blocks for its information-focused protocol, according to the announcement post.

While crypto projects have struggled to raise funding during the bear market, a16z has remained an active investor due to its deep pockets. A16z broke industry records in June 2021 with $2.2 billion raised for its third crypto-focused fund, then topped itself with a $4.5 billion fourth fund in May 2022.

Freatic’s broader idea is to connect people with information, such as knowledge of a potentially profitable real estate transaction, with others who know how to put that information into action. The project comes from the team behind the website HotNewCrypto, which provides information about under-the-radar crypto projects to potential investors.

The Freatic team has since moved on to two experimental projects involving decentralized information. The Alpha Factory, housed on the Polygon blockchain, is dedicated to curating crypto insights, while the Arbitrum-based Capture the Alpha experiment offers a competitive on-chain reputation system.

“New bits of information often propagate inefficiently within informal trust networks. Freatic is using cryptography and game theory to build a decentralized ecosystem for information exchange” Ali Yahya, a16z crypto general partner, said in the announcement post. “We believe in Freatic’s vision of a decentralized information market and are thrilled to support its development.”

Other investors in the round included venture capital firms Anagram, Archetype, Not3Lau Capital and Robot Ventures as well as data storage protocol Arweave, among others.