Blockchain venture capital firm IOSG Ventures has co-led a $2.5m seed round for Web3 platform DappBack alongside other investors. DappBack's platform is designed to help Web3 protocols boost user activity and increase community engagement. It allows non-Web3 players to create loyalty programmes for their customers with NFT rewards.

The platform offers a self-service, no-code solution that allows protocols to build customised reward systems consisting of off-chain and on-chain tasks. Users can earn native protocol tokens or NFTs with protocol-specific utilities for completing tasks or levels.

DappBack monitors and verifies task completion through different Web2 applications and on-chain data. The firm's co-founders, Joseph and Jonathan, have a wealth of experience to bring to the team.

DappBack’s platform for customized community reward systems

DappBack offers a no-code, self-service platform for Web3 protocols to build customized community reward systems to acquire new users and drive user engagement.

Protocols can build reward systems consisting of customized off-chain tasks (e.g. following a protocol on Twitter or taking a quiz about the protocol’s functionality) and on-chain tasks (e.g. buying a protocol’s token on Ethereum using Uniswap). These tasks can be organized by different levels which must be unlocked by completing the tasks of the previous levels. For completing the tasks/levels typically rewards such as native protocol tokens or NFTs with a protocol-specific utility are paid out to the users. Users can hold on to these NFTs to prove their contributions and reputation within each brand’s community, get exclusive access to new products and applications, and might receive special discounts and token airdrops.

DappBack monitors and verifies the completion of the tasks through different integrations with Web2 applications such as Twitter or Discord and by incorporating on-chain data. Users additionally receive DappBack Coins for completing each task which can be later redeemed in the DappBack Rewards Store for different crypto tokens or DappBack NFTs which allow its holders to further boost their earnings on DappBack. 

By completing tasks for various protocols on DappBack, users are exposed to a wide range of interactions with different protocols, which naturally facilitates the learning process of trying them out. This creates engagement beyond a simple exchange of tokens for activity and leads to a more organic growth of (not solely financially incentivized) users.

Additionally, DappBack’s self-service platform enables Web2-native players to create NFT or token-based loyalty programs to reward their customers in a simple manner, as large companies such as Starbucks have already successfully done with their NFT loyalty programs.  

Why we invested in DappBack

Joseph and Jonathan, the experienced co-founders of DappBack, have a wealth of experience to bring to the team. Joseph’s expertise in sales and building reward and loyalty systems with consumer-facing apps is complemented by Jonathan’s legal experience in Web3 and Web2, game development, and data analytics. Their passion for crypto and NFTs brought them together and drives their work at DappBack.

The main goal in the Web3 space is widespread adoption, which requires a large and engaged community, discoverability, and awareness that are then converted into usage. Both off- and on-chain actions and metrics are valuable for the protocols, but on-chain usage is especially significant because it represents real instances of usage.

DappBack helps protocols achieve these goals while increasing overall Web3 adoption by simplifying it for non-web3 companies and their customers to participate and engage in the ecosystem. DappBack has already found an early product market fit, with over 70,000 users completing four million verified tasks on the beta platform. Notable customers include Shapeshift, Unstoppable Domains, BOBA Network, Phuture, Uplift DAO, and Integral.

DappBack’s offering is a great alternative to existing Web3 marketing methods, which are not as mature as in Web2 or traditional marketing. This leaves plenty of room for growth and innovation in the area, and DappBack is well-positioned to lead the way.