Asia Tech Wire (Aug 22) -- PIP Labs, the San Francisco-based tech startup that developed the IP-focused blockchain Story Protocol, has raised $0.08 billion at a valuation of $2.25 billion in a Series B round.

The company utilizes blockchain technology to protect intellectual property (IP) to stop artificial intelligence (AI) from stealing copyrights - such as OpenAI's powerful generative AI model GPT.

Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led the financing round, with other investors including Polychain Capital, Stability AI senior vice president and board member Scott Trowbridge, K11 Group founder Adrian Cheng, and digital art collector Cozomo de' Medici.

Seung Yoon Lee, co-founder and CEO of PIP Labs, revealed that the company began raising funds for its Series B round in early summer and closed this month.

The Series B round brings PIP Labs' total funding to $140 million.