NFTs for everyone: Rarible raises $14.2 million from Venrock Capital, CoinFund, 01 Advisors to take the digital creator economy mainstream
Rarible’s journey unfolded in one of the strangest times in this generation. Perhaps when needed the most, Rarible was there to allow thousands of digital creators to find new monetization channels and direct ways to interact with communities.
Last June, 6 months post launch, total trading volume on Rarible hit the $28,000 mark. By June 2021 it grew by a mind-blowing 3000x, reaching $150 million in total sales!
Though miraculous for most, the overall NFT market growth didn’t come out of the blue. NFTs have been years in the making with applications in blockchain games and early collectible items (CryptoKitties, CryptoPunks) dating back to 2017. This past year, NFTs took the world by storm with their most tangible and timely use case so far: fuelling the creator economy. Digital art has paved the way for the convergence of blockchain technology and mainstream user applications.
Pioneering NFT mass adoption in partnership with Flow
Now we stand at the next frontier of mass adoption: for ALL digital content to go on chain. The next step for NFTs is to become the full-scale intellectual property rights framework for media content. This new trend is fueled by mainstream players entering the stage: brands, celebrities, sports teams and more enabling creators to find direct, authentic, and meaningful new forms of connection with their audiences. The wider outreach and the influx of a global user base are vital for the NFT market and for the community to thrive.
Just as Rarible has always been at the forefront of the NFT movement, we are determined to pioneer the next wave. On this milestone, we are happy to join efforts with the most respected and value add investors to go beyond the current enclosed crypto environment and take NFTs truly mainstream: Venrock Capital, 01 Advisors and CoinFund.
We are certain that their unique expertise will help Rarible make this transition.
To mark this next phase, we are also proud to enter an official partnership with Flow. Dapper Labs has an impressive track record of bringing NFTs mainstream by creating native experiences for non-crypto audiences. As a blockchain, Flow enables easier access and lowers the entry barrier for traditional consumers and brands, which makes it a perfect partner on our journey to the wider adoption.
In the coming couple of months, we will be bringing Rarible on Flow as a primary and secondary marketplace, also welcoming the robust ecosystem of projects built on Flow blockchain.
Backed by the most reputable consumer brands-focused VC firms
Venrock Capital
Originally established as the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family in 1969, Venrock partners with entrepreneurs to build some of the world’s most disruptive, successful companies. With a primary focus on technology and healthcare, portfolio companies have included Apple, Check Point Software, Cloudflare, Dapper Labs, Dollar Shave Club, Gilead, Dataminr, Illumina, Intel, Nest, and 10x Genomics.
01 Advisors
A revenue stage investment fund led by renowned early Twitter executives, former CEO & COO Dick Costolo and Adam Bain, 01 Advisors help startups to move from building great products to building great companies. Previous investments of the firm include Mythical Games and Masterclass.
CoinFund
CoinFund is a blockchain-focused investment firm investing in crypto networks and their key enabling infrastructure. Founded in 2015, CoinFund is partnered with the team at Venrock. CoinFund has formulated a strategy of network lifecycle investing, focusing on funding early-stage companies, engaging in active network participation strategies, and managing digital asset exposure as networks mature. CoinFund team has a five-year track record in the blockchain space, investing across two digital asset focused funds. Its partnership draws on 30+ years of experience in finance, law, engineering, and technology. CoinFund’s mission is to be value-added investors and technical partners to blockchain’s most promising teams.
NFT protocol, L2, credit cards, scalability
Right now, the NFT market needs stellar user experience more than anything else: user friendly wallets, simple interactions, gasless minting and purchasing flows without upfront fees. We need a world where an indie creator can effortlessly create an NFT and sell it for $5 to his community of supporters, as well as where a pop icon can use NFTs to establish close contact with her multi-million audience in a sustainable way. To make this vision come to life, we need infrastructure, tools, community and a marketplace. This is what the raised funds will be used for.
Rarible has a lot in the pipeline for the upcoming few months, including the launch of Rarible NFT protocol, L2 solution for scalability and sustainability, credit card payments, adoption of Flow blockchain, multiple partnerships and drops, and more.
Rarible stands by its vision to become a full-scale protocol powered by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, owned and governed by the community, and we are thrilled that investors of such a scale share and support this vision alongside with our fantastic community. It means we’re on the right track.
Join the team building the marketplace of the future
You’re as excited about the future on NFTs as we are? We have multiple open roles across marketing, business development, and engineering: Head of Community, Head of Developer Relations, Product Manager, and more. Explore these and other opportunities here: https://jobs.lever.co/Rarible
