KOR Protocol closed a $7.5 million Series A round led by 1kx and Blockchain Capital, valuing the onchain clearinghouse at $100 million.
The startup is building infrastructure to register and route creative works while automating payouts to rights holders. The mechanism sits between creators, platforms, and licensing bodies to handle what traditional intermediaries have long gatekept—tracking ownership, managing disputes, and distributing royalties.
Neither investor has announced what percentage stake the round represents or detailed how KOR plans to deploy the capital. The newsroom does not have information on other participants or follow-on terms.
Onchain clearinghouses remain largely unproven at scale. KOR's bet hinges on whether major music labels, film studios, and publishing firms will adopt a blockchain-based ledger for rights management. Incumbent clearinghouses like ASCAP and BMI hold enormous switching costs and regulatory entrenchment, and they already move billions in annual royalties without blockchain.
The raise lands as venture capital continues backing infrastructure plays in crypto, even as near-term revenue remains opaque for most early-stage protocol teams. 1kx has backed Uniswap and Gnosis; Blockchain Capital is a long-standing LP across the space.