Web3 Firm Magic Summons $52 Million With PayPal Ventures’ Help

Wallet-as-a-Service provider Magic has raised $52 million in a round led by PayPal Ventures.

The strategic funding round will help the company further its mission of “enabling web3 mass adoption” by serving as Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) provider for companies looking to bring customers to Web3, according to a Wednesday (May 31) press release.

“Since launching in 2018, we have witnessed a steady increase in web3 use-cases among large enterprises across a wide variety of verticals,” Magic Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Sean Li said in the release.

“Global brands have realized the potential of blockchain beyond crypto and are utilizing it to engage with their customers and monetize the experience in new ways.”

“Mass adoption of web3 is a hot topic, and Magic is facilitating this with a safe and simple solution,” added Alan Du, partner at PayPal Ventures.

“Magic’s wallet creation service allows companies to reach millions of users on their apps and onboard customers who are new to web3.”

The funding round comes on the heels of a number of reports of different use cases for Web3.

Among them was a partnership announced in February between nChain and Unisot to improve supply chain by incorporating nChain’s blockchain technology into Unisot’s supply chain traceability and sustainability platform.

Mastercard in April debuted standards and infrastructure that will help verify interactions using blockchain networks. The company’s Mastercard Crypto Credential is designed to ensure that financial institutions, governments, brands and crypto organizations adhere defined standards for the kinds of activities they wish to pursue in Web3 environments.

And January brought reports that Amazon had Web3 ambitions of its own, including a planned non-fungible token (NFT) initiative and blockchain-based games.

Meanwhile, Coinbase in March launched its own WaaS business in March, which lets companies build fully customizable on-chain wallets for their customers that will store digital assets, facilitate transactions and serve as the user’s digital identity.

“Traditionally, wallets have made it difficult for users to access and benefit from Web3’s potential because of their complex mnemonic seeds and counterintuitive [user interfaces (UIs)],” Coinbase said in a blog post. “In a world where wallets are simple, companies can finally build Web3 experiences accessible to everyone regardless of technical knowledge.”