OpenSea, one of probably the most talked about blockchain start-ups in Silicon Valley, mentioned on Tuesday that it had raised $300 million in new venture capital, making it the newest firm to money in on a rush to fund cryptocurrency start-ups.
The new round of funding, led by the funding corporations Paradigm and Coatue Management, brings the start-up’s valuation to a staggering $13.3 billion simply 4 years after it was based. OpenSea beforehand raised greater than $100 million from a bunch of traders, together with the funding agency Andreessen Horowitz and the actor Ashton Kutcher, in line with knowledge offered by the corporate.
Founded in 2017, OpenSea was created as a market for individuals to purchase and promote so-called NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, that are distinctive items of digital code backed by blockchain know-how.
NFT objects can range, however the most well-liked tokens are items of digital artwork created by artists who listing their items for public sale on the OpenSea website, just like itemizing on eBay. Winning bids can typically attain a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} value of Ethereum, a preferred cryptocurrency and blockchain know-how linked to most sorts of NFTs.
As crypto-focused start-ups have grown extra common in current months, OpenSea has turn into the central place for fanatics to commerce NFTs. That has attracted the eye of traders who’re eager to put more and more giant bets on the busy cryptocurrency area.
More than $3 billion in non-public funding went into NFT companies in 2021, in line with knowledge compiled by PitchBook, a agency that tracks non-public investments. Overall, traders poured greater than $28 billion into cryptocurrency and NFT start-ups all over the world final yr, PitchBook mentioned.
“In 2021, the world woke up to the potential of NFTs to unlock utility and economic empowerment across a vast set of industries, communities and creative categories,” mentioned Devin Finzer, one of the founders and the chief government of OpenSea. “Our vision is to be the destination for these new open digital economies to thrive.”
Still, many cryptocurrency critics suppose the frenzy round NFTs and blockchain know-how is a fad, affected by questionable exercise. Last week, there was a short controversy surrounding OpenSea after one of its patrons claimed that $2.2 million worth of NFTs had been stolen from him. (OpenSea later froze the stolen property and prohibited the objects from being traded on its website.)
Those worries haven’t stopped technologists. Start-ups targeted on cryptocurrencies and NFTs are recruiting droves of employees from big tech companies like Meta, Google and Amazon, luring them with the promise of engaged on new — and doubtlessly profitable — applied sciences. Last yr, Brian Roberts, the previous chief monetary officer at Lyft, left the ride-hailing firm to hitch OpenSea as its first chief monetary officer. The firm additionally just lately employed Shiva Rajaraman, a former vice chairman of commerce for Meta, as its vice chairman of product.
The firm mentioned it plans to make use of the new funding so as to add to its greater than 90 staff, whereas doubling the dimensions of its belief and security crew. The firm additionally plans to take a position closely in product improvement to make its blockchain know-how extra accessible to mainstream shoppers, and can quickly launch a grant program to help creators and blockchain builders in the NFT area.
News that OpenSea was searching for funding was earlier reported by the tech e-newsletter Newcomer.
