Sfermion raises $100M for NFT and metaverse ventures

Sfermion raises 0M for NFT and metaverse ventures

The firm traditionally focuses on gaining exposure to NFT assets, but is keen to expand its portfolio to the metaverse space amid its recent emergence into the public discourse.

Nonfungible token, or NFT, investment firm Sfermion has announced a secondary funding raise of $100 million — appropriately titled Fund II — from a number of established cryptocurrency investors including British billionaire Alan Howard, American entrepreneur Chris Dixon, Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and venture capital firm Digital Currency Group, among others.

Whereas predecessor Fund I focused solely on NFT investment opportunities, seven-figure Fund II will be utilized to “accelerate the emergence of an open, decentralized metaverse” through strategic investments.

Founded in 2019 by Andrew Steinwold, Sfermion is intent on identifying and investing in emerging projects, technologies and individuals within the NFT space who seek to innovatively advance the ecosystem’s development. Their list of previous investments includes the likes of industry leaders OpenSea, alongside SuperRare, Artblocks and Yield Guild Games, to name a few.

One of the participants of this funding round, and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Dixon, shared his perspective on the potential impact that Sfermion could have on the NFT space:

“NFTs are transforming digital experiences and creating new investment opportunities across a variety of decentralized marketplaces. Sfermion is well-positioned to succeed by leveraging Andrew’s deep experience and insightful perspective on the NFT markets.”

Facebook’s corporate rebranding from a social media empire to a metaverse organization last week sparked furious debate in the crypto community as to whether the company's previous demonstration of principles and morale practices across their consortium of platforms imply they can be trusted in building such an immersive virtual technology.

While mainstream headlines remained relatively neutral on the topic, the broad consensus of inhabitants in the crypto sphere swayed negatively. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez passionately tweeted her feelings, while popular NFT trader Josh Ong shared his thoughts:

The Metaverse will not be trademarked. It won't be owned by a single company. We are the Metaverse.
— Josh Ong (@beijingdou) October 30, 2021

Axie Infinity

The net market capitalization of metaverse tokens grew 13.40% to $12.36 billion in the past 24 hours.

Facebook’s decision on Oct. 28 to rebrand itself to Meta — to indicate its plans to build an avatar-filled metaverse — helped spark a speculative rally across cryptocurrencies that belong to similar virtual world projects.

Decentraland, a virtual place with its own economy, currency (MANA) and social events — accessible to anyone with a web browser — saw its market valuation explode from $1.44 billion to $2.08 billion over the past 24 hours. This happened as its native token, MANA, jumped by around 45% to $1.14 in the same period.

*MANA/USDT daily price chart. Source: TradingView*

At its intraday best, the Decentraland cryptocurrency was changing hands for $1.227 on Oct. 29, its highest level since May 18.

The “Meta” FOMO

Traders started rushing into the Decentraland market after assessing Facebook’s foray into the virtual world sector. The company’s chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg, said it will from now on be "metaverse first, not Facebook first" following the latest rebranding.

Emil Angervall, co-founder and chief operating officer of music tech startup Corite, told Cointelegraph that Meta poses extreme upside opportunities for the still-emerging nonfungible token (NFT) space.

Calling it a highly liquid venture, Angervail stressed that Meta would eventually collaborate with existing NFT projects in the space, which would help the crypto sector, on the whole, to come into the mainstream. He added:

“We can expect unique NFT and metaverse innovations tailored to Meta in the coming months.”

Axie Infinity, a Pokemon-styled “play-to-earn” pet training game and virtual world, also saw its market valuation increase by around 10% in the past 24 hours, from $7.74 billion to $8.40 billion.

*AXS/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView*

At the same time, Axie Infinity’s native token, Axie Infinity Shard (AXS), also rallied by over 20% to hit $150 for the first time in two weeks. AXS serves as legal tender in the Axie marketplace, where players use it to purchase in-game NFTs (digital pets).

Other metaverse projects and their tokens, notably the Sandbox (SAND), Illuvium (ILV) and Division Network (DVI), also rallied strongly, confirming a price boom across digital assets that specifically focuses on virtual reality services.

*Metaverse tokens and their performance in the last 1 and 24 hours. Source: Messari*

On the whole, the net market capitalization of metaverse tokens grew 13.40% to $12.36 billion over the previous 24 hours.

“The growth in these tokens did not come as a surprise,” Mike Dickens, operations manager of NFT marketplace Blockasset, told Cointelegraph, adding:

“The new Facebook name alludes to the ground-breaking work these NFT protocols have done in recent years [...] These factors also contribute to the rising sentiments surrounding these NFT tokens Friday.”

Correction risks

Greg Waisman, co-founder and chief operating officer of crypto-based payment network Mercuryo, advised traders to wait for a price correction across multiverse crypto assets despite their recent gains.

The executive told Cointelegraph that “Traders will profit more to place their bets when the market has cooled off from this massive price upshot,” albeit adding that Meta would overall push the sector to higher valuations in the coming quarters. Notably:

“Meta’s exerted indirect influence may push this capitalization which may top $60 billion before the end of Q1 2022.”

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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