Data Infrastructure Company Terminal 3 Raises US$8M Seed Round to Scale Privacy Technology In New AI Era

Terminal 3, a Hong Kong-based Web3 startup, has successfully raised a seed funding round of US$8m. The investment will drive the development of a novel data privacy and security protocol due for launch later in the year and accelerate the adoption of the company’s decentralized identity and credentials platform for enterprises. Today, Terminal 3 already serves nearly 8 million users across multiple blockchains and industries.  

The funding round was co-led by Illuminate Financial and CMCC Titan Fund, with participation from Animoca Brands, Progression Fund, IDG Blockchain, and Cherubic Ventures. The round also included additional investment from existing investors 500 Global, Consensys Mesh, Hard Yaka, and BlackPine.  

“The demand for user data is growing exponentially, increasing the privacy risks for billions of people,” said Gary Liu, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. “At the same time, evolving data regulations and security requirements are saddling enterprises with major compliance burdens and costs, impacting user experience and restricting the adoption of emerging technologies such as AI. Our new funding will help advance Terminal 3’s enterprise solutions that empower businesses to grow with new technologies while protecting their users and cutting costs.”  

Terminal 3 leverages blockchain and privacy-enhancing technologies (such as zero-knowledge cryptography) to enable secure and self-sovereign storage of user data with fully private access for an array of applications from banking to government credentials, social media, and marketing. In recent weeks, Terminal 3 has also announced an authentication and authorization platform for AI agents, providing trust, security, and privacy for autonomous transactions.  

“We are at a critical inflection point for digital assets and decentralized technologies across global financial markets,” said Luca Zorzino, General Partner and Head of Asia at Illuminate Financial. “The key for unlocking these massive opportunities is secure data and identity, and we believe that Terminal 3’s innovative solutions will accelerate the institutional adoption of both while creating a new era of digital trust. Illuminate is thrilled to be investing in this mission.”  

Terminal 3 was co-founded by Gary Liu, Malcolm Ong (CPO), and Joey Liu (COO), all with extensive experience at world-class technology companies, including Google, Spotify, Microsoft, and Uber. Most recently, the trio led the digital transformation of the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s century-old newspaper of record, where Gary was CEO from 2016 to 2022. Over the past 3 years, the co-founders have led the development of Terminal 3’s platform while also advancing policies for the adoption of digital assets and open data across Asia and the Middle East.  

“Terminal 3 was one of our fund’s first investments,” said Shiau Sin Yen, Co-founder and Managing Partner of CMCC’s Titan Fund. “The growth of the digital asset industry hinges on verifiable identity solutions that will address and incorporate regulatory compliance, interoperability, and trust by all industry participants. We believe the complementary mix of experience, expertise, and vision of the co-founders is unique in Web3, and has led to the company’s early growth and future potential. Titan is delighted to continue building with these exceptional industry leaders.”  

AI and Regulations driving data security needs  

The rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence, and in particular agentic AI, has accelerated the need for scalable, interoperable, and fully trusted data privacy infrastructure. The move towards automated AI agents as a primary interface between companies and their customers creates an immense opportunity for global growth but also introduces fundamental threats to user privacy.  

A bank, for example, might use AI agents to check customer account balances and perform financial transactions on their behalf, while a travel platform may use AI agents to design and book vacation itineraries for customers. While the benefits to the enterprise and their users are obvious – speed, accuracy, ease, reduced costs – the adoption of AI agents creates numerous trust and data security issues as automation requires a large quantum of sensitive information without a pre-existing framework for authorization and privacy.  

"The market for agentic AI is set to grow at a staggering 4,000% in the next ten years,” said Yat Siu, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands. “Trustless networks are critical for this market to scale responsibly, so Web3 technologies must be core to the future of AI. Terminal 3’s approach to decentralized data privacy and security for AI is revolutionary, and we are excited to be supporting their vision.”  

As the demand for user data grows, data privacy regulations are also becoming more stringent while consumer awareness of privacy issues is heightening – a survey last year found that 83% of consumers now consider data privacy as the top condition for brand trust¹. The adoption of emerging technologies can enable enterprise infrastructure to meet escalating compliance requirements and customer expectations without limiting company growth. With this new funding, Terminal 3 will continue to develop world-class data security and privacy solutions that protect the universal rights of users around the world.  

About Terminal 3  

Terminal 3 is a Hong Kong-based Web3 startup building data infrastructure for a decentralized future. The company’s solutions are an alternative to centralized data systems that deprive users of privacy and saddles enterprises with compliance and security concerns. Terminal 3 leverages decentralized and privacy-enhancing technologies to empower an equitable Web3 where fully private user data is freely composable. The company’s founders are successful corporate executives and entrepreneurs, who have built, scaled, and transformed some of the world’s most important companies. Terminal 3 is also backed by world-class investors including Illuminate Financial, CMCC Titan Fund, Animoca Brands, IDG Blockchain, Progression Fund, Cherubic Ventures, 500 Global, Consensys Mesh, Bixin Ventures, BlackPine, Hard Yaka, and Bored Room Ventures.  

For more information, visit our: Official Website | X | LinkedIn  

About Illuminate Financial  

Illuminate Financial is a thesis-driven venture capital firm focused on B2B fintech and enterprise companies defining the future of financial services with offices in London, New York, and Singapore. Illuminate’s deep networks and trusted partnerships with key industry participants provide real insight into what the industry needs and helps their portfolio companies achieve their full potential. For more information, visit www.illuminatefinancial.com.  

About Titan Fund  

Titan Fund offers accredited investors exposure to attractive growth opportunities within the blockchain ecosystem through a traditional equity venture capital investment strategy focusing on pre-seed to series A along the key investment verticals of Infrastructure, Fintech and Consumer Applications. The Titan Fund is CMCC Global’s latest fund strategy and complements its Digital Asset Funds, which have been investing directly into protocols and crypto assets since 2016, and its Crest family of funds that invests into crypto quant funds. More information can be found at titan.fund  

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