Natix Network, a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) focused on mapping data, has raised $4.6 million in a strategic funding round.

Borderless Capital led the round, with Tioga Capital co-leading and several other investors participating, including Nomura's Laser Digital, Big Brain Holdings, Escape Velocity, IoTeX, WAGMI Ventures and Moonrock Capital, Natix said Thursday.

Angel investors, including Figment Capital managing partner James Parillo, Bitget managing director Gracy Chen, bitsCrunch CEO Vijay Pravin Maharajan, and Paul Taylor, also joined the round.

Natix started raising funds for the strategic round in January of this year and closed it this week, co-founder and CEO Alireza Ghods told The Block. He declined to comment on the structure of the round and valuation.

The round brings Natix's total funding to date to $9.6 million. It raised $3.5 million last year and about $1.5 million before that.

Natix today also announced that it will launch its native namesake token on the Solana blockchain in the second quarter of this year. It is then also expected to airdrop 1 billion NATIX tokens to users in batches, or 1% of the token's total supply of 100 billion, Ghods said.

What is Natix?

Natix is a DePIN project focused on collecting real-time geospatial or mapping data. It does so through its mobile app called Drive&. The app lets users record mapping data using smartphone cameras and driver assistant apps such as dashcams and navigation. The data collected is useful for mobility firms and the autonomous driving industry, among others, helping them improve operations and infrastructure, Natix said.

Natix claims to have over 92,000 registered drivers who have mapped more than 28 million kilometers since the app's launch in April last year.

"Over 90% of our users are in our 'activated/focus regions,' which are the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Central Europe and East Asia (Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, etc.)," Ghods said.

Natix token launch and airdrop on Solana

In exchange for providing data, Ghods said Natix users receive "in-app NATIX" (an in-app non-cryptocurrency) at the end of each month based on their contribution. After the token launch, users can convert the in-app NATIX non-cryptocurrency to the Solana SOL +0.60% -based NATIX token, Ghods added.

While the token launch is expected in the second quarter, the first batch of the airdrop of 1 billion tokens will occur when Natix achieves its first target of mapping 100 kilometers, Ghods said, adding that he expects to reach that target by July.

"An airdrop happens when a milestone is achieved, and then we set the next milestone," Ghods said. "We expect the first milestone to be around July by the current pace the network is mapping."

While Natix's token will launch on Solana, its platform has a multi-chain approach. "We are also using Peaq's DePIN components (e.g., multi-chain machine ID and data verification) for the backend infrastructure of our platform," Ghods said.

Natix's closest competitor in web3 is Hivemapper. But Natix doesn't require users to buy dedicated hardware and allows them to join the network via their smartphones, Ghods said, adding that Natix's Drive& app also consumes up to 99% less data than competitors.

Natix currently employs 20 people, and Ghods plans to expand the team with fresh funding by hiring in the engineering and business development functions in the coming months.