United States, July 21, 2021 /AlexaBlockchain/ – Largest NFT marketplace OpenSea has raised US$100 Million in Series B Funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) to join the growing list of crypto unicorns.
The company is also launching official support for multiple blockchains, becoming the first cross-blockchain NFT marketplace.
A16z leads OpenSea’s latest funding round, with participation from Coatue and CAA, along with Michael Ovitz, Kevin Hartz, Kevin Durant and Ashton Kutcher. With this capital, OpenSea will continue to scale its NFT platform, with immediate focus on hiring engineering talent and expanding internationally to new markets and audiences, making buying and selling NFTs more accessible to users.
Kathryn Haun, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, commented:
“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.”
NFT Space Is HoT
Despite a highly bearish sentiment revolving around the overall cryptocurrency market, investors are pouring big money in NFT space.
Last month, NFT marketplace Rarible raised a $14.2 million in Series A Funding from Venrock Capital, CoinFund and 01 Advisors.
Another NFT startup Mintable earlier this month raised US$13 million in Series A Funding round from leading investors, including digital asset issuer Ripple, Animoca Brands, Metapurse, the NFT investment fund backed by crypt enthusiast MetaKovan, Jon Oringer, the founder and executive chairman of Shutterstock, and Doug Band, a founding partner of investment bank Teneo. In fact the Mark Cuban backed Mintable was oversubscribed.
NFT Market Growing Exponentially
Sales of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have surged to record highs in the first half of 2021. According to data from DappRadar, there has been US$2.5 billion in NFT sales in the first six months of 2021. This is a massive increase over the $13.7 million in sales for the same period in 2020.
