The Open Platform secures $28.5m Series A at $1bn valuation, becoming first TON ecosystem unicorn

The Open Platform, a blockchain development company headquartered in Dubai, has officially become the first unicorn in the Web3 ecosystem built on Telegram’s TON blockchain. On July 3, 2025, the startup announced that it had closed a $28.5 million Series A funding round, which included an extension phase and brought its valuation to $1 billion. The milestone not only positions The Open Platform as a foundational player in TON’s growth story but also signals a pivotal moment for the mainstreaming of blockchain integration within messaging platforms.

The Series A round was led by Ribbit Capital, a prominent investor in fintech and crypto ventures, with Pantera Capital also participating. Combined with earlier seed-stage investments, The Open Platform has now raised over $70 million in equity financing. According to institutional observers, this fundraising outcome reinforces confidence in the viability of Web3 infrastructure that leverages the global scale of consumer apps like Telegram.

What makes The Open Platform’s $1 billion valuation a milestone for the Telegram-TON ecosystem?

The unicorn status of The Open Platform represents the first instance of a Web3-native firm within Telegram’s ecosystem reaching a billion-dollar valuation. The funding round—anchored by top-tier crypto-focused investors—has validated the long-term vision of building decentralized finance, gaming, and social apps directly into Telegram’s familiar user interface.

Unlike earlier blockchain startups that focused on standalone decentralized apps (dApps), The Open Platform has embedded its products into Telegram’s core ecosystem, significantly lowering onboarding friction for users and developers alike. Notably, its flagship implementations such as Wallet in Telegram and Tonkeeper have already reached millions of users, while viral consumer apps like Notcoin have demonstrated Web3’s viral potential when fused with native distribution.

How will The Open Platform deploy its new capital across key global regions?

The fresh capital injection is earmarked for a robust expansion push across the United States, the European Union, and other strategically relevant jurisdictions. Executives from The Open Platform stated that the capital will support the launch of new portfolio companies in these geographies through a focused investment in go-to-market teams, regulatory compliance, licensing efforts, and security infrastructure.

The Open Platform’s roadmap aligns closely with the TON Foundation’s global strategy to turn Telegram into a high-utility Web3 interface. By combining product innovation with geographical scaling, the Dubai-based tech startup is positioning itself as the default application layer for TON-powered services worldwide.

Institutional investors have also emphasized that successful compliance across diverse markets will be key to sustaining momentum. With U.S. and EU regulators still scrutinizing crypto-enabled apps, the ability to meet legal, data privacy, and AML requirements will be critical for scaling operations in enterprise and consumer contexts.

What historical events laid the foundation for this milestone in TON and Telegram’s Web3 evolution?

Telegram’s blockchain ambitions date back to 2018, when it launched the Telegram Open Network (TON) as a proprietary project. However, the effort was halted in 2020 following a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which led Telegram to abandon direct development. In the years that followed, independent developers resurrected the codebase under the name The Open Network, rebranded simply as TON.

Since then, the TON Foundation has maintained a decentralized roadmap, with Telegram Messenger integrating TON as its official blockchain partner. In 2023, Telegram began supporting in-app crypto payments via Toncoin, and usage steadily grew. As of mid-2025, the TON blockchain now supports over 1.2 million daily transactions and more than $350 million in total value locked across decentralized applications.

The Open Platform, founded by Andrew Rogozov, has played a central role in this resurgence, functioning as the de facto innovation engine behind consumer-facing TON projects.

Which TON-based apps and services have been developed under The Open Platform umbrella?

The Open Platform has rolled out a series of high-impact consumer and infrastructure projects that leverage Telegram’s native functionality.

Among the most prominent applications developed and supported by The Open Platform is Wallet in Telegram, which enables users to store, send, and receive Toncoin directly within the Telegram chat interface—eliminating the need to leave the app or navigate external wallets. Another key product is Tonkeeper, a widely adopted non-custodial wallet designed for power users and developers seeking greater control and flexibility over their assets.

STON.fi serves as a decentralized exchange and liquidity aggregator within the TON DeFi ecosystem, allowing users to swap tokens and interact with DeFi protocols seamlessly. On the digital collectibles front, Getgems has emerged as the leading NFT marketplace on TON, offering artists and collectors a native platform for minting and trading digital assets.

To support creator monetization, The Open Platform developed Tribute, a toolkit that allows content creators to build sustainable revenue models inside Telegram by accepting direct payments and fan contributions. Finally, the viral hit Notcoin—a tap-to-earn game—has introduced millions of users to Web3 engagement by allowing them to earn Toncoin through simple in-app interactions, bypassing the traditional friction of wallet setup or blockchain literacy.

By integrating these apps directly into Telegram, The Open Platform is aiming to build what it calls a “seamless, scalable Web3 platform for a billion users.” The infrastructure is optimized for onboarding both users and developers into the TON economy without the technical barriers that have historically limited crypto adoption.

What are institutional investors and analysts saying about this milestone and future expectations?

Although the TON ecosystem is still relatively young compared to Ethereum or Solana, institutional sentiment has notably shifted in 2025. Industry investors view this unicorn milestone as a signal that TON and Telegram may finally have a sustainable monetization model for Web3 engagement.

In March 2025, the TON Foundation announced that more than $400 million worth of Toncoin had been acquired by institutional backers including Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Benchmark, Draper Associates, CoinFund, and others. Analysts tracking the Web3 infrastructure space say this convergence of high-volume messaging platforms and compliant blockchain technology could become a “new standard” for consumer-scale crypto deployment.

Micky Malka, founder of Ribbit Capital, said the opportunity to build money-native applications for one billion users was a core reason for backing the round. Pantera Capital’s Ryan Barney echoed the sentiment, stating the firm saw long-term strategic value in supporting financial tools and entertainment products layered directly onto Telegram’s daily user base.

What future developments can be expected from The Open Platform and the broader TON blockchain ecosystem?

Looking ahead, The Open Platform is expected to deepen its push into financial applications, particularly in remittances, peer-to-peer transfers, and crypto onboarding for emerging markets. Given its access to Telegram’s massive network effects, the firm is well-positioned to create superapp-like functionality that rivals WeChat, but on decentralized rails.

Future filings and licensing efforts are anticipated in jurisdictions like the U.S., U.K., and Singapore, where Telegram already has large user bases. The TON Foundation is also expected to launch additional developer grant programs and infrastructure initiatives to accelerate app-layer adoption.

Analysts believe the sustainability of the ecosystem now depends less on speculative token price movements and more on product-market fit and regulatory compliance. With The Open Platform at the helm of consumer innovation on TON, investors are watching to see if it can lead the charge toward crypto mass adoption—delivered not through DeFi-native interfaces, but inside a familiar messenger app used by hundreds of millions.