If you haven’t heard of Animoca Brands over the last year or so, you haven’t been paying close attention. With a long and growing list of digital entertainment, blockchain, and gaming properties, the eight-year-old, 600-person Hong Kong-based outfit has quietly become one of the most active participants in a world that more and more stakeholders […]
This Dapper Labs-backed company is turning Dr. Seuss characters into NFT trading cards
Back in 2012, a Brooklyn-based mobile apps development startup was hired to do a job by the 83-year-old trading card company Topps. For that Brooklyn outfit’s president, Erich Wood, a UCLA graduate who’d studied economics and loved trading cards, the opportunity not only sounded fun but would change his trajectory. At the time, Topps had […]
Venture firm Chapter One, focused on all things web3, draws backing from big-name VC firms
Jeff Morris Jr., founder and managing partner of the L.A.-based venture firm Chapter One, just closed a $40 million early-stage fund to focus on web3 investments, and he’s in the process of raising a separate, $20 million opportunity fund. Even in this go-go market, where digital assets are suddenly top of mind for everyone, the […]
‘PayPal for Crypto’ wannabe Ramp raises $52.7M Series A round led by Balderton Capital
In the same way that PayPal and Stripe radically changed online payments by allowing any online service to embed payments, the race is on to have the same impact on crypto assets. To this end, players such as Wyre (raised $29.1M) and MoonPay (raised $555M) have risen to the fore. But in the Summer of […]
NFT startup Dapper Labs acquires virtual influencer startup Brud
Dapper Labs, the NFT startup behind NBA Top Shot which was recently valued above $7.5 billion, made an interesting acquisition this morning, telling Decrypt that they have purchased virtual influencer startup Brud and will be bringing the entire 32-person team aboard. Brud is best known for its digitally rendered social media influencer characters, specifically one […]
TechCrunch+ roundup: Alternative financing, Web3 adoption, India’s hot Q3 fundraising
The possibilities of Web3 are fascinating, although I will admit that the notion of public networks where everyone is presumed to be trustworthy is still a bit of a mind-bender.
NBA Top Shot creator on the NFT craze and why Ethereum still isn’t consumer friendly
We caught up with the Dapper Labs CEO at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 last week to discuss the challenges facing the crypto space, the future of Ethereum, and how quickly NFTs blew up this year.
Mark Cuban and Coinbase back Eternal, an NFT marketplace for trading Twitch streamer clips
The NFT world collectively seems to be trying to turn internet memories into one big game — with a lot of cash involved of course. The original “Doge” image sold for $4 million back in June, the original “Pepe” comic image sold for $1 million in April, in short, people are becoming meme millionaires. Buying […]