OpenSea Boosts Valuation 9X as This NFT Giant Sets Four Strategic Goals

 

The biggest non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, OpenSea, increased its valuation almost ninefold in six months as it raised USD 300m to fund four of its expansion goals.

The company said it was valued at USD 13.3bn in a Series CE funding round, led by Paradigm and Coatue among other new and existing investors. In July of 2021, the platform, founded in 2017, raised USD 100m at a USD 1.5bn valuation in a Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

OpenSea said it has four goals for its latest funding round:

1. Accelerate product development
2. Improve customer support and customer safety
3. Invest in the wider NFT and Web 3.0 community
4. Grow the team.

The marketplace aims to lower the barriers to entry for NFTs with new features and accelerate multi-chain support, while their support teams are estimated to more than double, surpassing 120 by the end of this year, according to Devin Finzer, Co-founder and CEO of OpenSea.

He added that, this quarter, the company is also launching an unspecified grant program to support NFT “developers, builders, and creators.”

Also, the platform appointed Shiva Rajaraman as their new Vice President (VP) of Product. Shiva joined OpenSea from Meta, where he was the VP of Commerce.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Axios reported that OpenSea is in talks to acquire Dharma Labs, a digital wallet for cryptoassets. Deal terms are still being hammered out, with current talk of an all-stock deal valued at between USD 110m and USD 130m, the report said, citing “multiple sources.” 
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Learn more: 
– OpenSea Sees Massive Volume, Collections Gain Popularity as NFTs Boom in 2022
– NFTs in 2022: From Word of the Year to Mainstream Adoption & New Use Cases
– Younger OpenSea is Reportedly to be Valued More Than Crypto OG Gemini
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(Updated at 08:54 UTC with a paragraph about a possible deal with Dharma Labs.)