Yigit Taha OZTURK 
YZi Labs has invested an undisclosed amount in Vana, a crypto-AI startup focused on data ownership.
As part of the investment, Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who recently took an active role in YZi Labs following its rebranding from Binance Labs, has joined Vana as an advisor, YZi Labs announced on Monday.
“This is a strategic investment closed in January 2025,” said Vana co-founder Anna Kazlauskas in a statement to The Block. “YZi Labs is the sole investor. There are no other investors in this round.”
Kazlauskas declined to provide details on the structure of the funding round or the post-investment valuation.
The investment comes shortly after Vana launched its mainnet and token in December 2024. Currently, the VANA token is trading at around $6.25, marking an 82% decline since its launch, according to The Block’s VANA price page. VANA has a market capitalization of approximately $192 million, with a fully diluted valuation of $747 million.
Beyond YZi Labs, Vana‘s previous high-profile investors include Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, and Polychain Capital, having previously raised $25 million in funding rounds.
What is Vana?
Vana is a San Francisco-based crypto-AI startup founded in 2021 by Anna Kazlauskas and Arthur “Art” Abal. The two met at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a shared goal of accelerating AI while enabling broader user participation in new digital economies.
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Focusing on data ownership, Vana’s Layer 1 blockchain allows users to pool their data into “Data DAOs,” earn rewards, and retain ownership of AI models built from their contributions.
“Data DAOs are central to the Vana protocol’s vision of user-owned AI,” said Kazlauskas. “These entities put groups of users in direct control of their data, aggregating data around specific use cases that can then be monetized to organizations for AI model training.”
With this new funding, Vana plans to expand its DataDAO ecosystem, help launch data tokens for over 16 DataDAOs, attract more data contributors, onboard additional DataDAOs, and extend data financialization beyond crypto into industries such as finance, social media, healthcare, and mobility.
YZi Labs’ AI Focus
This marks YZi Labs‘ first AI investment since its rebranding last month. Before the rebrand, the firm had backed several crypto-AI projects, including Sahara AI and MyShell.
A YZi Labs spokesperson told The Block that the firm’s focus has now expanded beyond Web3 to include AI and biotech. While continuing to explore opportunities at the intersection of these fields, YZi Labs is also open to investing in standalone AI and biotech projects to “capture the full spectrum of innovation.”
Meanwhile, Vana is just one of several projects CZ is actively involved with. According to the spokesperson, CZ is advising multiple YZi Labs portfolio companies and remains open to collaborating with early-stage founders.
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