NFT developers are being favored by capital. At present, NFT development companies including Dapper Labs, Animoca Brands, etc. have received multiple rounds of financing.
In the context of the rise of the metaverse, these NFT development teams and projects that are highly related to the metaverse are usually still in the early stages. Investing institutions in the early layout, have the opportunity to obtain more dividends.
A round of financing of 100 million US dollars was obtained, Softbank led the investment
Recently, NFT startup Candy Digital announced that it has completed a US$100 million Series A financing at a valuation of US$1.5 billion. This round of financing was jointly led by private equity firm Insight Partners and the second phase of the SoftBank Vision Fund. Participating parties include individuals and institutions such as NFL Hall of Fame member Peyton Manning.
Candy was founded by Michael Rubin, chairman of Fanatics, a large American sporting goods retailer, Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, and well-known entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk.
Among them, Fanatics is the majority shareholder of Candy. The former has been authorized by the Major League Baseball (MLB) to allow the sale of MLB merchandise.
In June of this year, Candy established a cooperative relationship with MLB, the former is responsible for the development of NFT with MLB as the theme. This move is also believed by the industry that Candy will compete with Dapper Lap in the sports NFT field.
Regarding the new financing funds, Candy said that it will be used for company expansion and NFT technology and product expansion. Candy will also launch a “Beta” platform, where fans can directly buy, sell and trade NFT products.
Why does capital favor NFT developers?
Focusing on baseball and basketball, two major sports digital collection NFT developers, Dapper Labs and Candy Digital, have emerged in the NFT market. NBA Top Shot, the most popular star card in the current market, comes from Dapper Lab.
A month ago, Dapper Labs just completed $250 million in financing. This financing brings its valuation to US$7.6 billion.
In the first half of the year alone, Dapper Labs completed two rounds of financing, which were USD 250 million and USD 305 million in February and March. The investors behind it include well-known hedge funds Coatue Management, a16z, Samsung, and sports stars such as Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant.
The day before Candy Digital’s financing, Hong Kong-based blockchain and NFT game company Animoca Brands also announced a $65 million financing. Investors include Liberty City Venture Capital, Ubisoft Entertainment, Sequoia China, Dragonfly Capital, etc.
Earlier this month, Sky Mavis, the developer of another NFT game Axie Infinity, also completed $152 million in Series B financing.
These NFT development teams and projects that are highly related to Meta Universe are usually still in the early stages. Investment institutions are deployed in the early stage and have the opportunity to obtain more dividends.