OpenSea, the world’s second-biggest non-fungible token marketplace by trading volume, has raised US$100 million in a series B funding round led by venture capital firm A16z, the company has announced.
Fast facts
- The new funding raises the company’s value to US$1.5 billion, making it a unicorn — a start-up with a valuation of more than $1 billion.
- Besides A16z, participants in the funding round include talent and sports agency Creative Artists Agency and its founder Michael Ovitz, basketball player Kevin Durant and actor Ashton Kutcher.
- The announcement came just four months after the marketplace closed a US$23 million series A round, also led by A16z. Since then, the platform’s numbers have been strong. According to Dune Analytics, OpenSea reached multiple all-time highs on several measures this month, including peaks in monthly volume, trader numbers, the number of NFTs sold, and monthly fees.
- Launched in 2017, the New York-based platform was the first open marketplace for non-fungible assets on the Ethereum blockchain.
- NFT mania seems to be ongoing four months after it appeared to reach fever pitch in March. Earlier this month, NFT platform Enjin raised $20 million in a token sale for the Efinity NFT marketplace on the Polkadot blockchain.
- Data from Nonfungible.com, which tracks NFT projects on the Ethereum blockchain, shows that the NFT market saw more than US$700 million in total volume traded in Q2 2021, a 40% increase quarter on quarter, driven by collectibles and sports NFTs. In the same period, the number of active wallets also increased by 39%.
