Share this article
Dapper Labs Said to Reach $7.6B Valuation in $250M Funding Round
The firm behind NBA Top Shot and the Flow blockchain also announced a deal with Spain’s top soccer league, LaLiga.
By Eli Tan
Updated May 11, 2023, 7:08 p.m. Published Sep 22, 2021, 8:11 p.m.
Dapper Labs has closed a $250 million funding round, the company behind NBA Top Shot and the Flow blockchain said Wednesday.
Coatue led the raise, which also included Andreessen Horowitz, Google’s GV and Version One Ventures. According to a source familiar with the deal, Dapper Labs received a $7.6 billion valuation.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
“We’ve proved the concept, which is why our investors are so eager to partner with us,” Roham Gharegozlou, CEO of Dapper Labs, told CoinDesk in an interview.
Gharegozlou believes non-fungible token (NFT) highlights will be “the currency of fandom” and says the raise will help expand NBA Top Shot operations and lead to new sports ventures worldwide, including European soccer with its huge fan base.
The Dapper mega-round comes just a day after soccer NFT giant Sorare raised $680 million in a raise that valued the Paris-based fantasy sports platform at $4.3 billion.
Read more: European Football NFT Platform Sorare Raises $680M Series B
Gharegozlou sees room in the burgeoning space for multiple companies.
“Companies like Sorare can be complementary to us,” he told CoinDesk, adding:
“They’re much more focused on fantasy, while video is very important to us, and sets us apart.”
New turf
In a separate announcement Wednesday, Dapper Labs announced a partnership with LaLiga, Spain’s top professional soccer league, to launch a soccer marketplace.
The marketplace will feature digital collectibles from the league’s 20 teams, including world-renowned clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Like Dapper Labs’ wildly successful NBA Top Shot project, the LaLiga marketplace will run on the company’s Flow blockchain. Dapper Labs is planning to launch the soccer marketplace in the summer of 2022.
NBA Top Shot, the crown jewel of Dapper Labs’ suite, has seen exponential growth in the past year, with $780 million worth of collectibles traded on the platform across 1.1 million registered accounts in 2021. (Dapper’s initial flagship, CryptoKitties, has also seen a recent bump in trading activity.)
The Information first reported in April that a funding round valuing Dapper Labs at $7.5 billion was in the works.
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Tom Lee urges BitMine shareholders to approve share increase ahead of January 14 vote
The chairman of the former bitcoin miner-turned-ether treasury firm reiterated his view that Ethereum is the future of finance.
What to know:
- Tom Lee, chairman of Bitmine Immersion (BMNR), urged shareholders to approve an increase in the company's authorized share count from 500 million to 50 billion.
- Lee assured shareholders that the increase is not intended to dilute shares, but instead to enable capital raising, dealmaking, and future share splits.
- Shareholders have until January 14 to vote on the proposal, with the annual meeting scheduled for January 15 in Las Vegas.
Top Stories
