LINE NEXT, the South Korea-based NFT arm of messaging giant LINE, raised $140 million in investment to “popularize the Web3 ecosystem.”

In a statement released today, LINE claimed the investment was “the largest funding round in the Asian blockchain Web3 industry for this year.” It was led by Crescendo Equity Partners, a Peter Thiel-backed private equity firm.

With the new capital, LINE plans to officially launch its global NFT platform DOSI in January 2024. “Integrating with Japan’s NFT marketplace LINE NFT, DOSI will be offered as a mobile app to users around the world,” the company said.

Giving brands ownership

LINE NEXT also plans to help brands to “give ownership” of existing digital products and allow them to be traded. The social media giant intends to introduce web3 games …