UnicornDAO Raises $4.5 Million to Support Women and LGBTQ+ Artists

UnicornDAO announced today the raise of $4.5 million led by ConsenSys Mesh, Bored Ape Yacht Club creators Yuga Labs, and others. The funds will go toward supporting artists who identify as women and/or LGBTQ+.

Launched in March 2022 by Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova alongside John Caldwell and Rebecca Lamis, UnicornDAO calls itself "a feminist movement that consists of Web3 native people who are using Web3-based tools to create much-needed equality in the Web3 space."

"We are happy to support UnicornDAO's mission to fund businesses and purchase NFTs created by women and LGBTQ+ people to help onboard new creators to Web3,” Nicole Muniz, CEO at Yuga Labs said in a statement. She added that Yuga Labs will be donating its seat in the UnicornDAO to a woman or LGBTQ+ leader in the space who may not be able to afford the cost.

Joining in the raise are MoonPay, World of Women, Tribute Labs, Quantum, Flamingo DAO, The LAO, Wave Financial, Collab Currency, Polygon, and Big Sky Partners, as well as digital artist Mike Winkelmann (better known as Beeple) and recording artist Sia. Thus far, UnicornDAO has purchased $1.4 million in works from under-represented groups in Web3.

UnicornDAO says the art investment fund redistributes wealth and visibility to create equality for women-identified and LGBTQ+ people in the world and the digital art space.

Tolokonnikova said UnicornDAO has the same ethos as Pussy Riot—"to bring equality, justice, and joy to communities that have been historically underrepresented."

On Sunday, recording artist Grimes donated the video for "New Gods" to the DAO, announcing that she had joined the UnicornDAO board.

A DAO, short for decentralized autonomous organization, is an online community focused on a common goal that uses a shared treasury, smart contracts (programs that execute once criteria are met), and tokens for voting on proposals.

This week, UnicornDAO opened its membership to the general public. It will hold an in-person launch event on June 21 at NFT NYC in New York.

In line with Tolokonnikova's life of activism, UnicornDAO also announced the launch of UnicornRiot, a group dedicated to political organizing and fundraising for activist causes, with a focus on reproductive rights in the United States.