Share this article
Mintbase Raises $1M Seed Round to Bring NFTs to NEAR Protocol
The new funding allows Mintbase to hire developers and designers to prepare for a testnet launch on NEAR before year's end.
By Doreen Wang
Updated May 9, 2023, 3:13 a.m. Published Nov 18, 2020, 11:09 p.m.
Lisbon-based non-fungible token (NFT) platform Mintbase has closed a $1 million seed funding round.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The round, led by Chinese venture capital firm Sino Global and with participation from D1 Ventures, Block Oracle Capital, Arweave and angel investors, is meant to help Mintbase stand out from a growing pack of NFT platforms.
“Being a marketplace is really an afterthought,” Mintbase CEO Nate Geier said in an interview. “The goal was to build the best minter out there, and we did that.”
The new funding allows the team to actively hire developers and designers to prepare for a testnet launch on NEAR before the end of this year. Building on NEAR will be in addition to its continued work on Ethereum. Geier also hinted that a governance token may be in the works.
What differentiates Mintbase from similar NFT marketplaces such as SuperRare, Rarible or OpenSea, Geier says, is the lack of focus on one specific category of NFT.
“They get more publicity and we get more usage,” he added, pointing out that many people log onto Mintbase to mint their NFTs only to trade them on OpenSea.
Read more: The Inevitable Marriage of Yield Farming and NFTs, Explained
The NFT ticketing platform that launched Ethereum in 2019 decided to expand to other networks in July due to high gas costs, adding competing smart-contract blockchain NEAR Protocol to the mix. When travel and events came to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, the team behind Mintbase looked to other use cases for NFTs, like partnering with permanent storage network Arweave.
“We’re just scratching the surface of what we can do with NFTs,” said Mintbase co-founder Carolin Wend. “Now that we’re getting to the point of lower transaction fees, that will be huge for mass adoption.”
Investor Sino Global Capital said in a tweet thread, “We weren’t interested in just acquiring a few NFTs for a few trades. We are investing to support their vision with our China-centric network.”
Update (Nov. 19, 0:02 UTC): Mintbase is not leaving Ethereum, it is building on NEAR as well. The story has been updated for clarity.
Больше для вас
Что нужно знать:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
Больше для вас
Turkey's Paribu Buys CoinMENA in $240M Deal, Expanding Into High-Growth Crypto Markets
With the acquisition, Paribu gains regulatory foothold in Bahrain and Dubai and access to the region's fast-growing crypto user base.
Что нужно знать:
- Paribu acquires Bahrain- and Dubai-based CoinMENA for up to $240 million.
- Deal marks Turkey’s biggest fintech acquisition and first international crypto M&A, the firm said.
- The move taps into the MENA region’s fast-growing crypto user base and supportive regulatory hubs.
Top Stories
