Sony has made a follow-on $13 million investment in Startale Group, reinforcing its long-term commitment to the Soneium blockchain roughly a year after the network’s mainnet launch.
The funding, disclosed by Startale, came from the Sony Innovation Fund and follows Soneium’s transition from testnet experimentation into live operation, allowing Sony to assess real-world performance.
Since going live in January 2025, Soneium has processed about 524 million transactions and grown to roughly 5.4 million wallets, metrics that Startale said helped inform Sony’s decision to increase its exposure.
“This ecosystem growth, combined with the strength of the ongoing collaboration through Sony Block Solutions Labs, reflects the progress that underpins Sony’s continued investment,”
A Startale spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that the follow-on investment does not alter Sony’s governance or operational role, with the partnership structure remaining unchanged.
Startale also said its Startale USD (USDSC) stablecoin is now live on Soneium’s mainnet, designed to act as a native settlement layer for applications and payments on the network.
Sony and Startale first unveiled Soneium in August 2024 as an Ethereum layer-2 aimed at entertainment, gaming and consumer use cases, with the mainnet launch in January 2025 marking Sony’s most direct move into blockchain infrastructure.
At the time of reporting, Ethereum price was $2,962.42.