OpenSea, one of the world’s most popular NFT marketplaces, has raised $ 300 million in its latest funding round, the company announced yesterday.
With new capital injections, a sign of investors’ rapid desire for blockchain start-ups, OpenSea will be valued at a stunning $ 13.3 billion in just four years.
In announcement, Co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer explained that the company will use this money to significantly increase its current workforce of about 90 people. According to Finzer, there is a particular focus on OpenSea’s customer support and trust and safety teams, with plans to double the 60 employees in these departments by the end of this year.
In addition, the startup will launch a funding program this quarter to support creators of NFT spaces.
“In 2021, we saw the world awaken to the idea that NFTs are a fundamental component of a brand new peer-to-peer economy,” Finzer wrote. “These give users greater freedom and ownership of digital products, allowing developers to build powerful, interoperable applications that provide users with true economic value and usefulness. increase.”
“OpenSea’s vision is to become a central destination for these new open digital economies to thrive and to build the world’s most friendly and most reliable NFT marketplace with the best choice,” he said. I added.
The Series C funding round was led by investment companies Coatue Management and Paradigm.According to the tech newsletter, Kathryn Haun, the only director except OpenSea’s two founders Finzer and Alex Atallah, also contributed through her new crypto fund KRH. new employee..
Haun previously co-chaired the crypto fund of Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm that led OpenSea’s $ 100 million. Series B Fundraising Round July last year. Basketball star Kevin Durant and actor Ashton Kutcher contributed at that stage, at which point the company was worth $ 1.5 million.
Last week, Todd Kramer, an art dealer at the Los and Kramer Gallery in New York, claimed that 15 NFTs, including some boring apes, were worth an estimated $ 2.2 million in total. Was stolen from his Ethereum wallet..
In a controversial move, OpenSea has since “frozen” digital assets. This meant that they could no longer be traded on the platform, and some of the crypto community questioned the company’s commitment to decentralization.
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