YZi Labs backs Funes to preserve humanity’s physical legacy

YZi Labs invested in Funes to preserve humanity’s physical legacy by funding a digital ark for global architecture. The initiative aims to safeguard crumbling monuments and modern sites alike in a high-fidelity, 3D format for future generations.

On Nov. 6, YZi Labs announced a strategic investment in Funes, a digital heritage platform constructing a massive, open archive of high-fidelity 3D architectural models. The move directly advances the venture firm’s core thesis of backing projects that sit at the convergence of AI, culture, and real-world data infrastructure.

According to Dana H., an Investment Partner at YZi Labs, the initiative represents a “mission for humanity,” comparing Funes to a “GitHub for the physical world” where a global community can preserve and build upon detailed digital blueprints of culturally significant sites.

Funes’ digital museum, YZi Labs’ cultural bet

Per the announcement, the capital infusion from YZi Labs will be strategically deployed across three core pillars of the Funes operation. First, the funding will accelerate its global modeling initiative, expanding the systematic capture of comprehensive 3D data for both historic and modern structures.

Second, it will fuel the development of a more seamless and interactive online platform, transforming the archive from a static repository into an explorable digital landscape. The third allocation is for AI integration, specifically to merge this vast real-world dataset with cutting-edge technologies such as 3D Gaussian Splatting and Radiance Fields.

Funes’ Co-founder Hanyang Wang says the company has already grown into the largest online database of real-world 3D architectural models. To date, the project has digitized nearly 1,000 models, spanning from ancient temples and ruins to modern landmarks, with plans to add over 1,000 new structures to its vault each year.

The considerable weight of its investor backs this ambitious scaling. YZi Labs, a global firm that claims to manage over $10 billion in assets, has built a portfolio of more than 300 projects, with a stated philosophy of prioritizing foundational impact across sectors such as Web3 and AI.