- Dapper Labs — a company that is developing a new Flow blockchain — announced that it has raised $12 million
Dapper Labs — a company that is developing a new Flow blockchain — announced that it has raised $12 million in a new round of funding from investors like NBA players Andre Iguodala (Miami Heat), Spencer Dinwiddie and Garrett Temple (Brooklyn Nets), JaVale McGee (Los Angeles Lakers), and Aaron Gordon (Orlando Magic). And other new investors that joined the round include Coinbase Ventures, Distributed Global, Valor Capital Group, A.Capital, BlockTower Capital, Blockchange Ventures, EONXI Ventures, Reed Company, Greenfield One, North Island Ventures, Republic Labs, L1 Digital AG, and Pirata Capital. Existing investors that participated include Samsung NEXT, Andreessen Horowitz including their Cultural Leadership Fund, Union Square Ventures, Venrock, Accomplice, Animoca Brands, and AppWorks, and several others.
In connection with the funding, Dapper Labs also announced initial results from its first phase of beta testing for NBA Top Shot — its upcoming flagship title developed for the Flow blockchain. And the first 500 players on NBA Top Shot have spent thousands of hours opening packs, trading moments, and completing collections together.
NBA Top Shot was designed in partnership with the NBA and NBPA to appeal to basketball fans’ love of showcasing their knowledge and expressing their fandom. And the experience has captured the nostalgia of trading cards and the fun of sneaker trading within a digital universe.
As fans are entering into the Top Shot universe, they are immersed into a world where they can discover great plays, open surprise packs of “top shots” or the best plays of the season, show off their epic collections, and trade assets with their peers to complete sets and win challenges. New invitations to the beta are now being released in waves and interested parties may sign up on nbatopshot.com and then go to discord.gg/nbatopshot to request early access.
In the past few months, Dapper Labs has announced major partnerships with Warner Music Group, Dr. Seuss Entertainment, and UFC to build new gaming and entertainment experiences on Flow. And besides providing the stability and scalability necessary for blockchain products to support mass market adoption, Flow also provides payment rails for credit cards and cryptocurrency for consumers to use with ease.
KEY QUOTES:
“Crypto enables entirely new possibilities for people to create and exchange value on the internet. Flow is a new and easy to use blockchain that lowers barriers to entry and lets anyone join this new digital economy. The funding from this round will ensure Flow can scale to the size of projects appealing to fan bases as vibrant and demanding as the NBA and our other partner brands including Dr. Seuss, UFC, and Warner Music. Flow lets fans join the economy of their passions in a way that wasn’t possible before crypto.”
— Roham Gharegozlou, founder and CEO of Dapper Labs
“Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize consumer ownership on the internet. Projects like Dapper Labs’ Flow is already driving consumer adoption, with NBA Top Shot proving the experience is not only engaging, but smooth and fan friendly.”
— Andre Iguodala, three-time NBA champion, tech entrepreneur, and current Miami Heat forward
“Blockchain is going to fundamentally alter the financial industry and have a major impact on consumers. Flow can create the vehicle for consumers to enter the space through products like NBA Top Shot where they have fun, but at the same time create a new self-sovereignty.”
— Spencer Dinwiddie, Point Guard on the Brooklyn Nets and avid blockchain enthusiast