What is CZ's latest investment Funes about?
Original Title: "What Is Our Startup Funes Doing and How Did We Raise Funds?"
Original Author: Hanyang MASTERPA, Founder of Funes
Editor's Note: On November 6, YZi Labs announced an investment in Funes, an AI-driven online museum dedicated to collecting, preserving, and curating 3D models of all human-made structures. The author of this article, Hanyang MASTERPA, is a co-founder of Funes, and in this article, he introduces why he founded Funes and the fundraising experience. The following is the original content:
Early in the morning, I saw the news that a cooling tower of a nuclear power plant in Tennessee was demolished. The cover looked familiar to me, so I clicked in and found that it was from last year. It was a gloomy morning when my colleague and I drove over an hour from Nashville to get there. On the way, we only saw deer and wild turkeys, until we parked our car at the entrance and were suddenly surrounded by a group of burly men—because there was a private prison next to the nuclear power plant, and the main gate faced the power plant. We were targeted by these big guys as soon as we came in, adding a touch of color to their boring morning.
The cooling tower that has vanished forever
Like many stereotypical North American stories, the big guys were relieved to see two Asians and after cautioning us not to fly a drone to take photos, they were attracted by the next alert and left. So, this abandoned nuclear power plant and cooling tower are among the few buildings we only took photos of without creating a model. But in fact, even if we wanted to model it, it would have been a challenge because it was too large, and the remote control range of a small drone was simply not enough.
However, there will never be a model of it again. Its immense, almost sublime scale did not prevent it from meeting the same fate of eventual collapse as the bungalow next to my house. The inmates in the prison and the security guards must have enjoyed a good show.
Humans cannot achieve eternity, but we always want to resist time. That is the reason for Funes' existence, and why we devote our energy to Funes.
0. What Is Funes?
It seems like we have never formally and seriously introduced Funes to everyone here. So, before explaining our fundraising story, let me first explain what Funes is.
In 2012, extremists took over Timbuktu, destroying historical sites. In 2014, Shangri-La was devastated by a fire. In the same year, the ancient city of Aleppo became a battlefield in the Syrian war, suffering severe damage. Not far away, the Palmyra site was leveled by the Islamic State in 2015. In 2019, the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris was engulfed in a major fire. In recent years, increasing international turmoil and climate disasters have made world cultural heritage more vulnerable and endangered. Every corner of the world, every day, could be the last. Our material world urgently needs to be preserved and documented through digitization.
However, a country's landmark buildings, a house passed down through generations in a hometown, a skyscraper you pass by every day... These physical entities of architecture are also carriers of information and knowledge. But our understanding of them is probably much less than you imagine. From large-scale buildings, monuments, ruins to cultural relics, toys, handicrafts... These creations are traces and testimonies of human presence on Earth, yet they have hardly ever been massively digitized for common purposes such as collection, protection, and display, and uploaded to the internet for browsing and use.
This is why we established Funes.
Some models and model-based maps already online in Funes
Funes is like a Github for the physical world. Together with users worldwide, we model and store all human-made buildings and structures. Funes' database now includes over 1,000 models of human buildings and structures (not all online yet). These models span across continents, over a time span of more than 4,000 years, and the number is rapidly growing.
We cannot guarantee, but at least within the known scope, Funes is arguably the world's largest open three-dimensional architectural database.
Currently, Funes adds an average of 5 to 10 models per day, some directly captured by our team, while others come from contributors worldwide—from Singapore to Moldova. These models collectively form an unprecedented digital resource, providing rich research materials for computer vision and graphics researchers, film and game creators. At the same time, they have opened up new research directions that were previously difficult to achieve in heritage conservation, architectural history, archaeology, and other related fields.
When there are enough models, many unimaginable things will naturally emerge. For example, cross-regional, cross-cultural real-world visual comparisons. With these models, historians can trace the spread of cultural ideas, studying how different cultures respond to natural conditions and societal challenges through the built environment. A researcher of ancient trade can now simultaneously "stand at" the mountain pass in northwest China and the inn ruins in Anatolia, meticulously comparing stone carving techniques and architectural structures. Scholars can also use our large map feature to "connect points to form lines, connect lines to form surfaces," gaining insights into cross-regional, cross-era development trends.
Each 3D model in Funes comes with coordinates and a modern address, and is linked to 3D terrain data. Therefore, the database has also become a powerful tool for Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis and spatial humanities research, assisting urban planning researchers in analyzing settlement forms and building distributions in different terrains. Especially for large site models, archaeologists can use this to associate site locations with geographic features, ancient transportation routes, and early urban planning, examine the influence of climate and terrain on architectural development, and even map out the spread of architectural styles across regions. These high-precision geographic spatial data can also be used for heritage tourism planning and development.
For professional users, Funes has specially introduced a series of research-friendly features:
“Wireframe Mode” allows engineers to penetrate surface materials to view the structural details of the model's triangle mesh, while heritage preservation personnel can use this to conduct in-depth analysis of the internal structure of buildings.
Wireframe and Survey Line-Drawing Mode, Sopoćani Monastery
Unlike typical online model repositories, Funes also offers a professional “Orthographic View” feature. “Orthographic” originates from descriptive geometry, and this mode eliminates the perspective's “foreshortening” effect through professionally measured rendering. For example, a high tower or cathedral often appears smaller at the top than at the bottom in regular photos, while “Orthographic View” completely avoids such distortion, allowing for a more accurate comparison of the scale of large buildings—whether it's Cologne Cathedral or a Tang Dynasty pagoda, both can be presented with the precision of a Liang Sicheng-style survey drawing, eliminating perspective distortion and lens aberration, greatly aiding archaeologists in understanding architectural proportions.
The difference between standard view and orthographic view in the same perspective, Henan Sheqi Mountain Shan Guild Hall
Building on “Orthographic View,” Funes has pioneered the “Survey Line-Drawing Mode” globally by leveraging extensive survey drawing training and optimizing model 3D structures. This mode can automatically generate archaeological-level architectural drawings, including plans, elevations, sections, site plans, axonometric drawings, and orthoimages, meeting the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and fulfilling the needs of academic publishing and comparative research. This mode also adopts the UNESCO common heritage survey archive format, effectively supporting international cultural heritage preservation and “World Heritage” cooperation.
Overlay of the survey map and model of the Eight-Fold Pavilion of Seokgatap Pagoda at the Seokguram Grotto, a designated National Treasure of South Korea
Thanks to optimized photogrammetric algorithms, every scale structure and geometric relationship in the Funes model can be measured and calculated. Mathematical structures and modular designs in Bauhaus, Metabolist, and Brutalist architecture can be accurately extracted using measurement tools, assisting researchers in exploring the spatial philosophies within, such as the eave curve of East Asian traditional architecture or the intricate curved structures of Greek temple column proportions; all can be measured in three-dimensional space with extremely high precision.
These specialized models provide researchers with tools that were previously only obtainable through expensive on-site surveys.
Next, Funes will soon support 360-degree panoramic views, covering not only the exterior but also allowing an in-depth look inside, providing a complete spatial experience. Researchers can "enter" a 13th-century Gothic cathedral, gaze up at the soaring vaults, observe the light from stained glass windows casting onto stone columns; or step into a Chinese courtyard, experiencing the courtyard, verandas, and rockeries creating changing scenery. A complete internal panoramic record can assist restoration engineers in determining the position of each beam and the spatial relationships of each mural, like a digital "Noah's Ark" of cultural heritage.
The panoramic photo is from St. Stephan's Church of Mainz, where the entire church's blue stained glass is authored by Chagall.
The introduction document for each architectural model is also crucial. Currently, we are utilizing our in-house AI pipeline to enable machines to understand expert descriptions, academic materials, and the visual features of 3D models simultaneously, generating accurate and easy-to-understand encyclopedic introductions. We are gradually introducing real-time AI narration and interactive browsing features. This experimental educational tool allows users to freely navigate, rotate, and zoom in on buildings, while AI provides instant narration on the structure and historical background of the details seen, achieving a deep integration of visual and textual information. Demos are already available online, showcasing the effect on the Selimiye Mosque's page.
Funes hopes that even if the physical structure of a building is damaged, the spatial memory of civilization can still be preserved intact.
Architecture is the crystallization of human wisdom from different civilizations, eras, and individuals, and should be shared by all humanity; not relegated to a lonely corner, leading to an inevitable fate. Many times, buildings are deemed worthless or obstructive to urban development and casually demolished. Decades later, someone discovers the incredible significance of these structures, but can only understand them through archives or photos, by which time it is too late to undo the damage. The ability of modern humans to appreciate everything around them is questionable; all the spaces around us contain unimaginable significance, as long as we can truly delve into the research and pay attention to the messages they convey.
By lowering the modeling threshold and opening up more data, Funes is driving true democratization of cultural heritage: a child from an inland mountain area can now closely examine the details of world-famous architecture just like a university student on the East Coast of the United States. The openness of model access is not at odds with the diversity of model acquisition: whether it's a high-precision scan by an archaeological team or photos taken by local residents with their phones, each contribution is included in the archive. This means that cultural heritage recording is no longer the privilege of a few experts but has become a collaborative effort of all humanity.
The value of a specific place is inherently immeasurable. Its importance can never be solely assessed from a societal perspective. The location of our first date, the grassy field where we walked our pets, the room we once called home but is now gone, the restaurant where we hold fond memories of loved ones who are no longer with us, the office where we started our careers, and the classroom where we last sat — these places may not pique the interest of historians, but they hold immense value to all of us because they define our human existence through experiences, emotions, and memories. Therefore, preserving these seemingly insignificant spaces is equally crucial.
The barrel-vaulted buildings in Qitaihe, such residential buildings are memories of my childhood and also of countless others.
Funes's ultimate goal is to connect the digital realm with the physical world, not just these carefully researched, planned, and significant "important spaces," but the space of each of us, every moment in our ordinary yet intimate lives.
1. About Funes's Funding
After starting Funes, three questions were almost always asked whenever we met someone:
1. How to model?
2. How to make money?
3. Who invested?
These three questions have a strict sequential relationship. I will write a separate article next time about the second question. This time, let's mainly discuss the third one: Who were the investors in our round? How did the discussions go? Because the funding itself is a long, tense, and gut-wrenching process for founders, it's not very interesting to write about. So, for readability, I will focus on a few key excerpts.
I feel that in the current market environment, there are mainly two types of early-stage projects: where the founders haven't even started, but investors have already locked in; or where they can't raise money. Just like a few years ago, companies that went through a 4-6 month cycle of hard work to successfully raise funding are really rare, considered statistical outliers. When we were preparing for funding in June last year, we had this mental expectation: it would be good if we could get the money by December at the earliest. So, it's best for everyone to do more modeling, collect more data and results while spending as little money as possible.
Some people think fundraising is a moment, where someone wants to invest in you, you take the money, and it's done. But in reality, fundraising is a process, from initial contact, to official meetings, discussing terms, receiving the funds... It takes time. So this means that a founder can't just say, "I'll hold back and then work like crazy for a few months to show impressive metrics to people." That's not how it works at all. Because fundraising is a process, founders must keep moving the company forward throughout this process to reassure investors that they are making the right choice.
So my life basically turned into two parts: going out to model and share with users, and going out to meet with investors. These two things can't be done together because places where investors are often have no-fly zones.
After deciding to do Funes, I went to Xiamen to meet Teacher Liu Feng, and his only advice to me at the time was: meet more people as soon as possible because the market could turn bad at any moment. He dismissed my idea of preparing a bit before meeting with investors and instead urged me to start conversations sooner and gain insight into how investors think as early as possible. Just at that time, while I was traveling between Shanghai and Hong Kong, HG's KK and Walter had rich connections and helped me introduce the first batch of investors to talk to, and even helped me analyze how to pitch. That's how the fundraising process started.
I have to say, Teacher Liu's prediction was spot on. Time flew by to September, and I had already accumulated almost four months of rejections from investors. That was fine, because rejection essentially means someone else sees your company differently, and sometimes that can be helpful for founders. On a side note, it's a shame that most investors fail to ask questions that would truly impress a founder. If I occasionally encountered one who did, I would be very, very grateful. The first significant moment in this fundraising round that helped me a lot was in Silicon Valley. Because of the pandemic, I hadn't been to Silicon Valley in three years. Brother Chao helped me connect with a group of friends in Silicon Valley. After rejecting me, one American investor spent an hour analyzing the current challenges and difficulties of fundraising in Silicon Valley. Without him, I would have wasted a lot of time.
One.
By September, due to having many events, I came to Singapore. It was just too hot, feeling like I was in an endless summer. One afternoon, I was modeling at CHIJMES Hall. Because MegaETH's event was there, Shuyao asked me if I could showcase Funes at the event, so I suggested modeling the venue. Right after finishing, Siyuan from ABCDE messaged me, asking if I wanted to meet their founder, Du Junzong.
My gut feeling was that ABCDE was unlikely to invest in Funes, and the distance was too far, and it was too hot. I was wearing my summer modeling outfit: quick-dry shirt + shorts, all sweaty; not ideal for a meeting. I was about to politely decline. However, Siyuan gave me a reason I couldn't refuse: he said from ABCDE's office rooftop, you can see the roof of CHIJMES Hall. That was irresistible because drones were not allowed there, and I couldn't capture the rooftop.
Upon arrival, he took me directly to meet President Du. When President Du heard me say we were like the Wikipedia of the 3D world, he told me that he used to love Wikipedia as a child. He enjoyed how one entry would lead to another, imagining himself traveling to different places. He could spend half a day just exploring. However, back then, there was even less Chinese content than now, so he had to do his own translations and could only partially understand what he read. Then he said Funes' philosophy is very similar to Wikipedia, and he fully understood why we wanted to do this.
Then he said: Let's not talk about investment yet (my heart tensed up). He personally donated ten thousand US dollars to us (I was surprised).
After that, the two of us discussed a lot about his involvement in the creation of Discuz! in the past. I will record a podcast with him about this in the future, so I won't write about it here. Finally, he said: Funes is also worth investing in, but the investment process is relatively lengthy. So let's talk about the donation first before discussing the investment. We can do more with a bit of money. As we were parting ways, he told me that he truly loves Wikipedia. However, he suggested that when I meet most other investors, it's best to use a different analogy for Funes. Everyone says they love Wikipedia, but no investor wants to invest in Wikipedia.
When I heard this, I thought his statement about donating first and then investing was just polite words. However, I was still very grateful for the ten thousand US dollars—after all, this was the first money Funes had received. The next day, we started moving forward with the investment process, which went very smoothly. However, the brand ABCDE has now ceased operations and changed its name. Funes may have been the last project that ABCDE invested in.
As we parted ways, Siyuan kept his word and took me to see the window where you could see the Hall of Praise—it was indeed visible, but too small to capture in a photo.
I want to give a special thanks to Shuyao; she helped us a lot. Thank you! MegaETH is also a great project, and I like everyone there (I even thought about poaching some people). When we started fundraising, Siyuan introduced us to MegaETH, and later on, we got to know many friends here who have been incredibly helpful to us. Finding a group of partners who can help each other in entrepreneurship is very important—but it is often overlooked. Fundraising is not the only crucial thing; who is with you during fundraising is equally important.
Attended the MegaETH event, back when I still had blond hair (actually, it was silver fading).
Two.
The day after meeting President Du, Dragonfly's GM messaged me: Can you stay in Singapore for one more day to meet Bobo (Total Feng Bo)? They can reimburse the rescheduling costs. At that time, I was chatting with Mable, and she said if you can meet Bobo, you should go quickly. Moreover, the rescheduled flight was cheaper than the original one, and Ctrip even refunded over a hundred yuan.
I first met Bo at his home, and as soon as I walked in, I was captivated by an Ernst Haas piece.
Since there are many subscribers to this newsletter, some friends may not know what I have been up to. Let me explain here. If you consider my day-to-day work, you could say I'm a photographer. And Ernst Haas was a pioneer of color photography. The photo at Bo's house, I had seen it in my class materials. I originally thought it was a small piece, but the original is actually quite large.
So, unlike a typical fundraising meeting, the first question I asked Bo was: That piece is by Ernst Haas, right? Bo probably didn't expect someone to ask that, so we ended up chatting about photography. Therefore, the conversation that day was a mix of Funes, large format, Polymarket, Mamiya 7, Protra 400, interest in the future, the meaning of life, and a series of completely unrelated topics. Even though I have been fundraising for many years, I have never had such a wide-ranging conversation.
GM has always been in charge of the Funes project and has been very dedicated. But we had a major challenge with Dragonfly: we were asking for too little money. Let me explain. For large funds, investing in small projects doesn't necessarily save a lot of effort. There is still management post-investment. So, usually, some calculation is done to see how many projects we can handle with the current fund and manpower. This results in a minimum investment amount.
For founders, taking more money is not necessarily a good thing. More money either means giving up more equity or a higher valuation. Frankly, I believe that valuations of companies that are not public are like a house of cards, often just to satisfy the founder's vanity. Becoming a founder of a billion-dollar valuation company holds no appeal for me. We can only raise funds at a reasonable price without wanting to give up too much equity.
But Bo didn't put me in a difficult position. He gave me a solution: whatever is left in this round, he personally will invest.
So, I had the first investor of this round and the last investor. He urged me to quickly meet Bo's friend Mable, who is also a podcaster. It was on her show that I and Chongqing first publicly introduced Funes.
Three.
York from Generative Ventures and I had always wanted to meet in person to chat, but it never happened — 80% of the time during fundraising. Even though we were both working remotely, when it comes to investment, seeing each other offline is still preferred. Later, York said, why don't I meet with my partner Will first? However, similarly, the two of us basically couldn't sync up. Finally, he came to Beijing, I went to Shanghai, and we met at a KFC in Hongqiao Airport. I brought a 3D-printed plastic Liaodong Jingda tower and used this tower to explain to him. He felt the tower should be my souvenir — but it wasn't because we didn't have time to print more; I had to show this to everyone. Nevertheless, the investment was finalized at that KFC.
At that time, I was holding the large white pagoda in the picture, but now all three in the picture have been given to friends; the two on the left are plastic 3D prints, and the one on the right is stainless steel 3D print + polished.
Later, he also introduced me to Anna, the founder of BAI. Before meeting her, I asked Xiaowan, the founder of Wan Dian, if she knew Anna. She said Anna is a very good conversationalist, and indeed she is. I just wanted to say that if you, my friends, see this, could you come or recommend your invested companies to join our "Mayfly World" for a chat!
Then he talked about the plastic pagoda incident. When I came out of the airport, I went straight to HashKey's office. I met Jeffrey from HashKey at a dinner in Chiang Mai hosted by Li Yang. I didn't know what Jeffrey did in terms of investment, but after returning to China, he invited me to chat. We didn't talk much about projects, but we discussed a lot about the pagoda. So when I came to Shanghai this time, I brought this plastic version of the pagoda with me. Therefore, the deal with HashKey was conducted during the discussion about the pagoda.
Of course, the fastest round was when, over a meal at our investor Michael Jin's house, Owen finalized a financing deal. Well, it seems that financing indeed requires eating a few extra meals. Our collaboration with D11 was also discussed at a restaurant in Dubai that seems to specialize in tourist meals.
Here I also want to thank a friend, Jarseed—whether in Beijing or online, he helped me and several partners understand a lot of industry knowledge.
Four.
Skipping the details, there are still some investors not mentioned here, my apologies. I believe many of you are reading this article because you saw the news of YZi investing in us. So let's talk about that.
I actually talked to YZi very early on. Shortly after the first meeting with Mr. Du, I met Dana from YZi Labs. At that time, it hadn't changed its name yet; it was still called Binance Lab. However, I wasn't too optimistic before the meeting because Funes didn't seem like the type of project a Lab would invest in. However, after talking with Dana for over two hours, I basically felt there was still a chance. Dana was more curious about us partners at Funes. We talked a lot about the stories that happened during modeling. Of course, we also discussed why I wanted to write for Binance at that time.
In fact, if you've read up to this point, you may realize that your investor will likely not have a full-on conversation with you and will only talk about the project the first time they meet you. It is possible that the person investing in you will be interested in you holistically, and as for the project itself, everything will gradually be discussed in detail during the lengthy fundraising process. So, through Dana's questions, it feels like progress can be made.
However, then two things happened: Binance Lab was renamed YZi, and Siyuan left ABCDE to join YZi. So, internal adjustments take time, and I was a bit hesitant to push forward—Siyuan led the investment in us at ABCDE and has a vested interest. Indeed, throughout the entire fundraising process that followed, except for meeting as friends, Siyuan avoided the entire process.
On the other hand, Dana later took the initiative to come over and arranged to meet in Hong Kong. Just right, the three of us, Keda, Zhongqing, were all coming to Hong Kong, so we took along the brochure we had just made. The brochure contains photos taken during our Funes journey. So, the three of us, along with Dana, Ella, Siyuan, and Nicola, sat on opposite sides of the coffee shop's largest table, starting the exchange from this brochure.
In the distance is the Daming Pagoda in Liaozhongjing, the first model uploaded online by Funes
As a founder, I thoroughly enjoy interacting with excellent investors. Because good investors are never in a hurry to prove they are right. When you meet enough investors, you will realize that many of them just want to prove their intelligence in front of you. So, discussing fundraising with good investors is not about question-and-answer but about communication. Founders also throw questions at investors. Our main question is just one:
What should Funes look like in YZi's eyes?
Many investors have said that since Funes is based on photo-based modeling, could it become the 3D version of Instagram? There is a huge logical gap here: Should a startup become a specific image in the founder's mind, or should it quickly become "any large company"? Many founders deceive themselves here; they will say our company will become XXX—this XXX can be any large company. For example, if Funes claims it can become this generation's Instagram. When I say this, do I mean that the Instagram model is something Funes can learn from, or is it just because Instagram is a successful large company with which we can associate, so we use this description? This balance is in the founder's mind, but for us, Funes has a specific image in our minds, and becoming "any large company" is not the goal.
Most importantly for us is Dana's recognition that when a founder is discussing their vision with investors, it is crucial for them to calmly reject anything that is not true to themselves. Dana mentioned an example off the cuff: Github is like this, where the Founder is building what he envisions the world should be like, rather than focusing on market capture. The founders of Github believed that the organization and flow of the code world should be a certain way, and they set out to achieve that, rather than molding themselves into any shape to beat competitors and achieve a monopoly. Both the founder and the investors need to have their non-negotiables.
On this topic, Dana paused for a moment and said: Funes is much like the Github of the Physical World. Upon hearing this, I realized this was the best analogy for Funes I had ever heard—of course, we didn't set out to start a business to become the Github of anything, but it is indeed a very good and easily understandable analogy. I have been saying this in most situations now, but I must say that I didn't come up with it myself (I wish I had, hahaha).
The first photo of the catalog; this catalog was only released in physical form and was never fully posted online
Later, Ella messaged me saying she had to leave many things behind when departing from Hong Kong, but she took our catalog with her. This made me very happy because these images represent the journey we have taken.
Next, I had a chat with CZ. I had a video call with him from the hotel in Huludao. I was particularly concerned about the internet connection in that place and tested it back and forth many times. I joked that this might be the most important video call made at this local hotel since it was built.
During our formal discussion, CZ mentioned that he had known me for several years, knew that I was more idealistic, and that I took things seriously, not someone looking to make money and run (thanks for the recognition). So he also wanted to see other members of our team. Therefore, it was mainly a conversation between him and Keda. They discussed projects Keda had worked on, what architectural archaeology is, and which countries' ancient buildings need more protection... If you don't know Keda, then I strongly recommend you listen to this episode to experience his charm. I have always felt that if history remembers me a hundred years from now, it will be because I once drove Keda. Digressing, CZ and Keda also had a very enjoyable conversation. Then the two of us went to meet the boss lady once again. It was only before meeting the boss lady that I realized my mistake as a founder: she was one of the first people to pay attention to Funes, probably one of the first ten. Even many people in our company haven't paid attention to their own profiles, but the boss lady did. Unfortunately, when we met, I forgot to ask her how she initially discovered Funes. I should ask her next time we meet.
Just a side note: The founder enjoys interacting with other founders, which means that when it comes to fundraising, if the other party's leader has also started their own business, we actually get along better. There are many entrepreneurial contexts that don't need to be explicitly mentioned.
Five.
Reading this might feel contradictory to what was initially written, wasn't fundraising supposed to be quite challenging? It seems like a casual conversation now, doesn't it? Yes, because it wouldn't be interesting otherwise. If I were to strictly follow the process in writing, it would result in a very long and tedious account.
This article is different from what I usually write, so it's unclear who will read up to this point. Nevertheless, reaching this point is fate, and perhaps the reader might be a founder like me. So, setting aside these dramatic details, let me share what else we have been doing. The moments I have described here only represent 1% of our fundraising process. The remaining work is all about dry, mundane, and boring tasks. But this is what founders do; we don't live for that 1% highlight; the remaining 99% is where our purpose lies.
What we did ourselves in this fundraising round also played a significant role.
1. Funes' MVP evolved from a conceptual webpage to reality. We built an entire cloud-based modeling and frontend rendering process from scratch. Additionally, due to the unique attributes of the buildings, we developed an in-house data management system. Every step of this progress is visible to investors. We can assure that every time an investor meets us next, the product has progressed.
2. We really took a lot of models. The whole team hardly paused, going to every possible location for modeling. In essence, the Funes project is physical work. Why would one be under the sun, sweating, capturing an unnoticed building? Actually, investors investing in us is a process of understanding this.
3. We have users. We hold modeling sharing sessions every week, with each session larger and more engaging than the last. Moreover, many people actually start capturing their own buildings after attending these sessions. Ultimately, a project survives not on fundraising but on users. I am extremely grateful to these friends who are involved in Funes.
4. Good luck. Many key moments in this journey were not solely due to my efforts; luck played a part. How do we view hard work and luck? A few of us partners really like a saying:
Before a warrior engages in his duel, he also prays to God, asking for the courage and decisiveness, but he never prays for victory itself.
Besides funding, there are some other costs: First, I estimate that I won't be writing a new article in the Binance series in the short term. This series is for media contribution and poses a conflict of interest. However, if possible, I would like to interview CZ or a top lady using my personal account, Fuyao Tiandi. Some time ago, I also interviewed Xiaofeng, the CEO of HashKey. Unfortunately, that interview couldn't be published for various reasons. Now, due to our collaboration, it is not suitable for media publication. However, it was a very good interview, and I will see if I can publish it in my own newsletter.
Words fall short, thoughts are endless. This round of funding for Funes also received help from many friends. Once again, I cannot list everyone, but I am very grateful to all.
Han and Yang head to the south tower of Liaoyang
Finally, why the name Funes?
Model the whole world, why be so obsessed with this?
Because we are likely the last generation to live entirely in the physical world. With technological advancements, the cyber world is destined to become increasingly important in human life, more so than the physical world. The grand and magnificent construction processes of humanity in the physical world are now history. Our generation is also likely the last to dedicate time, money, careers, and lives entirely to building the physical world. For the next generation, the cyber world is the ideal country to strive for.
So, it's time to leave a legacy for this material and spatial world. What we are doing is creating a death mask for this inevitably stiff and decaying world using plaster. Before it transforms into the cyber world, full of vertices, triangles, UVs, projections, pipelines, and parameters, we leave behind this final testament.
Humanity's efforts over ten thousand years to transform the earth's surface with soil, wood, stone, brick, glass curtain walls, and reinforced concrete are nothing but a dream. Now is the moment of awakening from the dream. We are taking notes on the dreamworld, capturing a sideways view of past illusions.
So, you can also think of this project as the last museum, one that can never be completed. Eventually, all the matter that has existed in the world, all the museums that have housed this matter, and all the museums that have collected those museums will become the artifacts and subsets of this final museum.
This is why this project is named Funes. It is derived from Borges' short story, Funes the Memorious, a story that contains all stories, just as our plan is to collect the museum of all museums.
In the process of building this endless, eternal, and possibly futile museum, everything will be nurtured.
Photo of Funes' First Principles Modeling Team at the Holy Mercy Temple in Henan, where the temperature approached forty degrees that day
Attachment: We have recently released the download for our standard precision model. If you would like to use our model for any form of re-creation, just click twice, and we hope you can also share it with us.
Since you have come this far, my friend, I feel you must also be quite interested in Funes. We hope to collaborate with independent developers to explore some applications and new gameplay for the model together. We can open up a lot of data (including but not limited to models and photos).
If you are interested in us, please contact me at hy@funes.world, or if you feel you are a good fit for the Funes team, self-nomination is also very welcome!
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Telegram Subscription Group: https://t.me/theblockbeats
Telegram Discussion Group: https://t.me/BlockBeats_App
Official Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia
