A16Z
Blossom Capital’s Newly Launched $432 Million Fund to Focus on Crypto Startups
Blossom Capital, the London-based venture capital firm founded by Candice Lo, Imran Ghory, Mike Hudack, and Ophelia Brown plans to dedicate more funds to the growing cryptocurrency ecosystem. On January 18, Blossom announced a new fund worth $432 million, and a third of the capital will be distributed to early-stage crypto firms. A Third of […]Near Foundation Raises $150 Million to Bolster Web3 Adoption
On Thursday, the Near Foundation announced the project has raised $150 million from strategic investors such as Three-Arrows Capital, a16z, Mechanism Capital, Dragonfly Capital, and Circle Ventures. Following the announcement, the Near protocol’s native crypto asset jumped more than 7% against the U.S. dollar. Near Foundation Gets a $150 Million Capital Injection The team behind […]NEAR Lands $150M in 3AC-Led Raise
Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk Raise Concerns Over Web3 as Skepticism About Ownership Grows
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has ignited a debate about web3 after Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized it. Dorsey warned of the risks from centralization, emphasizing that web3 is owned by venture capitalists (VCs), hiding under the premise of decentralization. “I’m concerned to see ‘the industry’ be distracted under false pretenses when we could all […]Former Facebook engineers at Mysten Labs raise $36M for Web3 infrastructure
“We believe fundamental limitations in existing crypto infrastructure are frustrating broader adoption of Web 3.0,” said Mysten’s team, citing the scalability of existing chains as well as the lack of interoperability of many smart contracts.
Mysten Labs, the research and development firm founded by former engineers from social media giant Facebook, has announced the completion of a $36 million funding round towards its goal developing a Web 3.0 infrastructure platform.
In a Monday announcement on Medium, the team behind Mysten Labs said the firm had raised $36 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Redpoint, Lightspeed, Coinbase Ventures, Electric Capital, Standard Crypto, NFX, Slow Ventures, Scribble Ventures, Samsung NEXT and others. According to a CNBC report, CEO Evan Cheng said Mystery would use the funds to build the infrastructure necessary for cryptocurrency- and blockchain-focused firms to deliver technology.
“We believe fundamental limitations in existing crypto infrastructure are frustrating broader adoption of Web 3.0,” said Mysten’s team, citing the scalability of existing chains as well as the lack of interoperability of many smart contracts.
In addition to the development of Web 3.0 infrastructure, Mysten said it planned to launch a “next-generation NFT platform for the Metaverse” in 2022. The project is aimed at allowing users to more easily move assets across different virtual environments without sacrificing functionality.
Related: Sommelier partners with Mysten Labs to launch Cosmos smart contracts
Founded in September 2021 by former cryptographical program engineers behind the blockchain architecture for Facebook’s — now Meta's — crypto-payments platform Diem and mobile wallet Novi, Mysten Labs is led by CEO Evan Chang, CTO Sam Blackshear, COO Adeniyi Abiodun, and chief scientist George Danezis. The most recent head of Novi, David Marcus, announced on Dec. 1 that he planned to step down by the end of the year. Meta — then Facebook — began piloting Novi in the United States and Guatemala in October.
NFT music marketplace Royal raises $55M in Series A round
Main investors include VC giant Andreessen Horowitz, in addition to musical artists The Chainsmokers, Nas, and Disclosure.
On-chain music platform Royal has announced a Series A funding round led by venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz.
Royal allows fans to buy music rights via nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Its co-founders, entrepreneur JD Ross and DJ Justin Blau who goes by the stage name 3LAU, announced on Nov. 23 they had closed a $55 million Series A funding, following a $16 million seed round in August.
Prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, led the round. Kathryn Huan, General Partner at a16z tweeted about the firm’s investment in Royal’s possibility of transforming the music industry.
1/ Today we’re announcing an investment in @join_royal, a web3 platform I think has the promise to transform the music industry in a way that hasn't been possible until now. DJ @3LAU and @Opendoor cofounder @justindross are the perfect pair to do it.
— Kathryn Haun (@katie_haun) November 22, 2021
https://t.co/aEAsLGWxIl
Additional investment came from CAA and NEA’s Connect Ventures, Crush Music, Coinbase Ventures, Founders Fund and Paradigm. Celebrities and global artists such as The Chainsmokers, Nas, Logic, Kygo, Stefflon Don, Joyner Lucas, and Disclosure backed the project as well. Royal will use the funds to scale their team and invest in the growth of artists who sign up for the platform.
CEO Justin “3LAU” Blau shared Royal’s main goal with Cointelegraph:
“Allow fans to co-own music with their favorite artists by leveraging blockchain technology to grant music rights, and aligning incentives between fans and artists. We’re starting off with a curated group of artists for our initial sales, but we plan on opening up the platform to more artists in the future.”
Last month, Blau gave away 50% of the streaming rights to his song “Worst Case” to 333 fans. Those fans get a cut of the royalties via NFTs whenever the song is streamed on Spotify, Apple Music, or another streaming service. The song reached an implied value of over $6 million with fans holding half of the value, and the tokens traded more tover $600,000 in secondary market volume in only the first two weeks, according to Blau.
Related: Celebrities are embracing NFTs in a big way
When asked how NFTs can solve the current issues within the music industry, Blau said:
“Artists’ livelihood is based on how much their fans support their music, but listeners aren’t compensated at all for that interaction. Royal leverages the NFT standards to help artists get more independence and help them capture more of the emotional value that music inherently creates.”
Royal wants to challenge the value of music ownership, which according to Blau, is “vastly misrepresented and undervalued today.” Historically, ownership of music royalties, streaming included, has been exclusively available to labels, hedge funds and private equity firms as a portfolio asset, he explained.
This could all change, however, as more and more musicians embrace the Web3 ecosystem and simultaneously empower their fanbase while funding their careers. Royal’s upcoming sale will go live within the coming weeks.
Crypto-Powered Privacy Solution Nym Raises $13 Million, Led By Andreessen Horowitz
Mythical Games Raises $150 Million in Series C Funding Round Led by A16z
Mythical Games, a blockchain-based gaming company, has raised $150 million in its series C funding round. The round was led by A16z, who is aggressively investing in these kinds of crypto initiatives. It also had the participation of other companies like D1 Capital, Redbird Capital, The Raine Group, as well as from well known cryptocurrency […]Web3 Infrastructure Provider Alchemy Raises $250 Million in Funding Round Led by a16z
Alchemy, one of the leading infrastructure providers for blockchain and web3, has raised $250 million in its series C funding round, giving it a valuation of $3.5 billion. The round was led by a16z, which considers we are at a turning point in the web3 space. The company has multiplied its revenue by 15x in […]