The world’s largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea has recently raised $100 million from industry investors in a recently-concluded Series B funding round led by leading American venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz.
Making NFT Trading Accessible to More Users
In an official press release published Wednesday, OpenSea noted that it will use the funds to expand its reach into several new international markets to make NFT trading accessible to more users.
The project also added that part of the funding will be used to scale its platform, focusing primarily on hiring new engineering talent to further establish its presence within the NFT space.
The funding round, led by Andreessen Horowitz, received support from several other investors including Coatue and CAA, along with Michael Ovitz, Kevin Hartz, Kevin Durant, and Ashton Kutcher.
In a statement, Kathryn Haun, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said: “The team at OpenSea realized early on the need for an open, cross-blockchain marketplace where anyone can buy, sell and create digital NFTs which is why they are one of the most important companies in crypto today.
We are thrilled to double down on this team, their technology, and overall vision as they continue to provide the best user experience for today’s creators, buyers, and sellers, in one platform.”
A $1.5 Billion Valuation
The fresh capital comes just a few months after the project received $23 million in a Series A funding round from several angel investors, including Mark Cuban and Ron Conway. With the new funding, OpenSea now has a market valuation of $1.5 billion.
The platform is also set to become the first cross-blockchain NFT marketplace as it intends to launch official support for multiple blockchains. OpenSea currently supports several chains including Ethereum, Polygon, and Klaytn, with plans to add support for Flow and Tezos.
The NFT space has been witnessing explosive growth in recent months and this funding comes at a time when OpenSea is driving mainstream adoption.
As the largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea recorded a massive influx of investors on its platform. Just last month alone, it sold over $160 million worth of non-fungible tokens and saw its trading volume for the first half of 2021 experience a 45x increase.
OpenSea CEO: NFT is the New Internet
OpenSea Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Devin Finzer believes non-fungible tokens are on their way to “becoming the new internet” as the adoption of crypto economies continues to grow.
“We’re proud to be leading this growing industry that we have been part of for a long time. As we continue to scale, our focus will remain on our customers, and providing the best user experience and entry point into NFTs,” Finzer added.
Meanwhile, in another development, Enjin, the creator of the ERC-1155 token standard, became the first NFT platform to join the UN Global Compact in a move to use non-fungible tokens to promote sustainability and equality.
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