The popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is increasing by the day, as NFT projects continue to raise capital through funding rounds that have attracted major players in the financial sector.
Over the past week, NFT projects in the sports sector have raised around $930 million in funding. Dapper Labs, popular for its NBA Top Shot NFT collectables, raised $250 million in a funding round in the past week. In the same week, Sorare, an NFT soccer trading card game developer, raised $680 million in a Series B funding round.
Dapper Labs Raises Additional $250 Million
On September 22, Coatue hedge fund led a $250 million funding round for Dapper Labs. The NBA Top Shot developer stated that the funds would develop more NFT projects in the sports, music and entertainment sectors. It also mentioned that part of the funds would be used to support the growth of NBA Top Shot.
This is the third funding for the NFT developer platform this year. It has previously closed $305 million and $65 million funding rounds in 2021 alone. The NBA Top Shot platform was launched in October 2020, and since then, it has generated over $716 million in sales and has around 1.1 million users.
Dapper Labs is also behind the Flow blockchain, which recently partnered with Google. The partnership will allow Dapper Labs to use Google’s Cloud services to achieve scalability for the Flow blockchain.
Sorare Secures $680 Million in Funding
This week, Sorare received $680 million in a Series B funding round spearheaded by Japanese fintech firm Softbank. With this funding, Sorare’s valuation increased to $4.3 billion.
In February this year, the French-based platform had raised another $50 million in a Series A funding round. The platform has enjoyed immense growth in 2021, and with these funding rounds, it has provided roadmaps that will help it accomplish its objectives.
One of the firm’s objectives is to team up with the top 20 soccer leagues globally and top 50 global football associations. Currently, the platform has partnered with 177 teams from around 36 local and international leagues. This month, Sorare made a major partnership with Spain’s La Liga to issue tokens for all players in the 20 teams within the league.
Sorare was created in April 2019. So far, its NFTs have generated around $84.8 million in sales. Its major boom happened in March this year when its monthly sales reached $15.34 million. The company also enjoyed peak sales in August that totalled $14.8 million.
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