Mash, a company focused on providing infrastructure for content creators via Bitcoin Lightning Network, closed a $6 million seed round, which was led by Castle Island Ventures and Whitecap Venture Partners.
The funds Mash raised will be used for building and marketing the company and its Bitcoin and Lightning Network solutions. According to Nic Carter, general partner at Castle Island Ventures and an outspoken Bitcoin evangelist, Mash is providing a solution to a deeply broken online content monetization system. He stated:
As a scalable, data-efficient, and high-granularity system, Bitcoin’s Lightning Network is uniquely suited to solving this problem and Mash employs it wonderfully.
Carter will also join the board of directors of Mash following the seed round. Together, they will work to eliminate the inefficiencies that todays’ content creators face. Instead, Mash will employ a “pay-as-you-enjoy” model.
Pay-as-you-enjoy Usage-based Model
This usage-based model allows listeners, readers, or users of the content to pay as they view or listen. This means no weekly or monthly subscriptions. A usage-based revenue model gives more control to the users by paying only for the content they consume.
This will be done through a digital wallet that is native to the application. The wallet can be funded either with a credit card or external Bitcoin funds. Moreover, Mash will also enable an “auto-pay” function that prevents interrupting the content for the listener or viewer. This feature also prevents overspending.
Jared Nusinoff, the founder and CEO of Mash was not only optimistic about the seed round, but also about what Mash is building. He highlighted the potential of the Lightning Network and its future:
Bitcoin and Lightning are transformative, redefining money on a global scale, creating the perfect opportunity for us to change the fabric of all online experiences and unlock fundamentally new business models that reward and incentivize the proliferation of quality, trusted and high-value experiences.