Mogo Inc. (NASDAQ:MOGO) (TSX:MOGO), a digital payments FinTech, makes a strategic investment in NFT Trader, an NFT marketplace, to foray into metaverse space.
Mogo has around 1.8 million users. Through the free Mogo app, consumers can access a digital spending account with Mogo Visa Platinum Prepaid Card, the only card of its kind in Canada.
NFTs use blockchain technology to keep a digital record of ownership for unique items. NFTs can be traded online on markeplaces.
NFT Trader is among leading NFT trading platforms. It has collaborated with many popular NFT projects, including Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Cool Cats, Gutter Cat Gang, and CyberKongz. NFT Trader centers around a decentralized Web3 ecosystem for securely trading digital assets and offers wide support for the interoperable swapping of many tokens.
Mogo’s initial investment is through a convertible note which, if converted, will represent a 25% interest in NFT Trader. Mogo also has an option to acquire an additional 25% interest in NFT Trader through a secondary purchase of common shares from the founders within six months of the initial investment.
As per the investment agreement, Mogo is entitled to appoint one director to NFT Trader’s board of directors and has been granted a pro-rata right for any future offerings of securities by NFT Trader, along with a right of first refusal over any transfers of securities by NFT Trader’s founders.
In addition to supporting the company’s continued growth, over time Mogo expects to work with NFT Trader in navigating the Canadian regulatory landscape exploring a strategic partnership to bring NFT Trader to Mogo’s members in Canada.
David Feller, CEO of Mogo, said:
“The world of finance is rapidly changing and nowhere is that more apparent than what we are seeing with the emergence of Web3, the Metaverse and NFTs.”
David mentioned that the trading volume for NFTs in 2020 was estimated at less than $100 million and that grew an estimated 230 times last year to over $23 billion.
According to David, the exponential growth of NFT market is “just the beginning”.
“As we’re just starting to see a whole new crop of play to earn video games where players are rewarded in native crypto currency and where their characters are NFTs that can be traded,” stated David. “Gaming will become a key way millions onboard into crypto, and the ability for consumers to easily trade NFTs alongside crypto will become increasingly important. We believe that a next-gen financial platform will not only bridge the gap between traditional finance and DeFi, but the merging of the digital and physical worlds will become one of the biggest growth opportunities ever.”
The investment in NFT Trader adds to Mogo’s growing portfolio of digital assets and investments, which totaled approximately $150 million at the end of Q3 2021 (including Mogo’s book value of its investments in Coinsquare).
