OpenSea’s massive year may have just gotten a bit bigger. Initial reports from The Information indicate that the NFT platform is currently preparing for another round of funding.
The news outlet reported that the crypto firm’s new valuation would be a whopping $10 billion.
Investors in this round are unnamed, and OpenSea has yet to respond for comment at press time.
OpenSea is an online marketplace akin to eBay, but instead of used bikes, Ikea couches, and blenders, the platform lets users buy and sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs are cryptographically unique tokens that can represent ownership of content such as digital art, concert tickets, and in-game items.
OpenSea primarily deals in digital art, hosting popular projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, and Cool Cats. Many NFTs from these collections have also sold for millions of dollars, attracting retail speculators and buttoned-up investors alike.
OpenSea enjoys headline year
The latest funding news would be OpenSea’s third funding round.
In March, the company raised $23 million in a Series A from Andreessen Horowitz, Naval Ravikant, Mark Cuban, and others. Then, in July, OpenSea raised an additional $100 million (again led by Horowitz) which pushed the company’s valuation to $1.5 billion.
'The Collectoooooor': Why Pplpleasr's Latest NFT Art Is on Solana, Not Ethereum
Artist pplpleasr (a.k.a. Emily Yang) is one of the standouts of this year’s NFT market boom, including designing the cover of Fortune magazine—and then selling it as NFTs. Her work has previously launched on leading NFT platform Ethereum, but now she has expanded onto rising competitor Solana with the drop of an inventive new project. Launched this week amidst the Solana Breakpoint conference in Lisbon, "The Collectoooooor" by pplpleasr—created in collaboration with Cloud Eater Studios and Solan...
Investor enthusiasm has likely been stirred following OpenSea’s staggering volumes. At the beginning of November, the platform hit an all-time volume of $10 billion in sales. At press time, this figure is now $11.11 billion.
