Veteran Investor Research Report - ICN: The Web3 Cloud Revolution Behind a $470 Million Valuation - When Xiaomi Investors Bet on Decentralized Internet Infrastructure
Introduction:
"80% of global cloud services are monopolized by four major giants, creating trillions in wealth each year, which is exclusively enjoyed by centralized shareholders. In Europe, a group of serial entrepreneurs has restructured the underlying logic of cloud computing using Web3: in the year prior to launch, over $5 million in revenue, strategic investments from early Xiaomi investors, and 250PB of enterprise data migrated to a censorship-resistant network - this is ICN's challenge to the old order through a commercial closed loop.
1. Capital Signals: Why are Traditional Tech Funds Heavily Investing in Web3 Cloud Infrastructure?
Breakthrough Endorsement
The track record of NGP Capital (a fund under Nokia) resembles the history of technological evolution: Xiaomi's hardware ecosystem, Helium's DePIN paradigm, WorkFusion's industrial automation...
Today, this hardcore fund that transcends cycles is placing its chips on ICN, with a $470 million valuation not only representing capital pricing but also a historic validation of the "full-stack decentralized cloud" track.
Essential Shift in Investment Logic
While Web3 projects are still chasing token model designs, NGP has seen more fundamental variables:
1. Real revenue capacity ($5M annual revenue from 1000+ enterprise clients)
2. Physical world anchor points (50PB real-time storage + data center clusters in Europe and America)
3. Scalable architecture (a unified protocol for storage, computing, and networking)
"Helium validated the feasibility of DePIN, ICN is proving it can support the next generation of the internet" - NGP Investment Director publicly stated.
2. Product Revolution: How Does Nodey AI Exploit Gaps in the Web2 Market?
Killer Application Landing:
In just two weeks since its launch, Nodey AI has become a litmus test for technical capabilities:
Distributed GPU network achieves <2 seconds image generation (compared to Midjourney's local deployment of 8 seconds +)
Enterprise-level SLA ensures 99.95% availability.
Seamless integration with AWS S3/Azure Blob workflows.
"Migration costs approach zero, performance improves by 40%" - Feedback from signed medical imaging clients.
Disruptive Logic: From "Alternative Storage" to "Reconstructing Workflows"
ICN refuses to be a competitor to Filecoin:
3. Economic Model: How Does WebFi Make Individuals the Core of Cloud Services?
Dual-layer node architecture reconstructs production relationships.
HyperNode:
Physical server operators, first-month rewards of 18.4% accelerate return on investment.
Dynamic adjustment of earnings through SLA Oracles (higher service quality leads to higher rewards).
Light Nodes:
Personal devices contribute idle resources.
Generate "credit certificates" from behavioral data to obtain ecological rights.
Ultimate Opposition to Old Giants
4. TGE Preview: Tokens Are Not the End, but the Fuel for Internet Reconstruction
The core function of tokens anchors infrastructure participation rights.
Payment medium: Settlement of storage/computing/network service fees.
Governance credentials: Voting determines the direction of protocol upgrades.
Node staking: Deposit mechanism to ensure network service quality, confirmed ecological flywheel.
Conclusion: A War of Infrastructure Concerning the Soul of the Internet
When tech giants harvest trillion-dollar markets with centralized architectures, ICN has chosen a more difficult path:
Using enterprise-level revenue to prove the feasibility of censorship-resistant cloud services.
Ending the fragmented era of DePIN with a unified protocol.
Returning value to every node contributor through the WebFi model.
"We are not building a better cloud; we are reconstructing the foundation of the internet" - Kai Wawrzinek, Founder of ICN.
This war does not have a quick victory, but ICN, backed by real data, is showing the world another future for decentralized infrastructure.
