NFT’s [Non-Fungible-Tokens] are the hottest topic in the world of business since the rise of Bitcoin and the start of the crypto’ revolution. It seems there are hundreds of new startups every day, all hoping to get a piece of the NFT pie. But which ones are building real momentum?
TFN has put together a list of the hottest NFT startups you really should be following closely.
Unico (Brazil)
Founder/s: Diego Martins
Founded year: 2007
Total funding: $230M
Unico, a Brazilian startup that develops digital identity protection solutions recently announced a $118.63M funding round led by General Atlantic and SoftBank. With the investment, Unico becomes the newest Brazilian unicorn, with a market value exceeding $ 1 billion. Diego Martins, founder, and CEO of Unico, will use the capital to continue developing the business, saying, “We have worked hard to structure our growth sustainably, thinking in three pillars: team, proprietary technologies, and organic expansion through acquisitions.”
Candy Digital (US)
Founder/s: Michael Rubin, Mike Novogratz, Gary Vaynerchuk
Founded year: 2015
Total funding: $100M
The investment round valued Candy at $1.5B and was co-led by Insight Partners and Softbank Vision Fund 2 with participation from Connect Ventures, Creative Artists Agency, New Enterprise Associates, Will Ventures, Gaingels, Com2Us, and Athletes Syndicate in partnership with Chaos Ventures. Candy will use the funds to integrate new sports relationships and accelerate the growth of its global team, while continuing to improve the user experience, and marketplace platform where fans can buy, trade, sell and store their NFTs.
OneOf (US)
Founder/s: Lin Dai, Josh James, Jared Christopherson, Adam Fell
Founded year: 2014
Total funding: $63M
After securing an investment round of $63m last May, OneOf has now announced a partnership with Warner Music Group to create exclusive NFTS for WMG’s artists. This partnership “first,” will enable OneOf to continue their goal of bringing artists closer to their fans by offering NFTs in the form of collectible and generative PFPs, music royalties, and IRL experiences. OneOf aims to be as green as possible and uses open-source network Tezos blockchain, allowing for an energy-efficient way to create cryptocurrency.
Metaversal (US)
Founder/s: Yossi Hasson, Daniel Schmerin
Founded year: 2021
Total funding: $50M
Metaversal, an NFT and Metaverse studio, has raised $50 million in a Series A funding round. led by CoinFund and Foxhaven Asset Management.
“We are thrilled to welcome some of the foremost blockchain and technology investors into our mission to invest in the infinite stories of our culture.” Said Yossi Hasson.
Mojito (US)
CEO: Dan Kinsley
Founded year: 2021
Total funding: $20M
Art dealers and institutions have not been left snoozing when it comes to new innovations in the world of crypto. Sotheby’s has announced a $20M investment in Mojito, an NFT studio & minting platform. Along with other investors, Mojito’s latest funding round has netted them an estimated $100M in investment.
ConsenSys (US)
Founder/s: Joseph Lubin
Founded year: 2014
Total funding: $275M
ConsenSys is an Ethereum startup and incubator, led by investment specialist Kavita Gupta. Set up to invest in other startups, ConsenSys has announced a $50 million venture fund for start-ups working with blockchain technology.
DOGAMi (France)
Founder/s: Max Stöckl, Kristofer Dayne Penseyres, Bilal El Alamy, Adrien Magdelaine
Founded year: 2021
Total funding: $6M
DOGAMÍ is the self-proclaimed “first mass-market play-to-earn NFT game.” Powered by Tezos, Player must raise and train their pets in the “Petaverse,” earning rewards by completing tasks.
DOGAMÍ have announced a $6M investment from Ubisoft and Others to Launch the Petaverse on Tezos.
MetaMundo (Netherlands)
Founder/s: Mark Studholme, Finn Hansen
Founded year: 2021
Total funding: $2.7M
MetaMundo is a service that allows architects and 3D artists to mint and sell / licence 3D NFTs to be used in the Metaverse.
In a recent seed fund round, they have secured $2.7M from investors including Animoca Brands, Hypersphere Ventures, and Digital Currency Group, among others.
Exclusible (Lisbon)
Founder/s: Thibault Launay
Founded year: 2021
Total funding: $2.5M
Exclusible, is a trading platform for luxury, limited edition, and prestige branded NFTs. Users can buy, sell and swap high-end desirable NFTs as investments, to trade on, or for use in the Metaverse.
The company has confirmed a seed fund round value of $2.5M from investors like Tioga Capital, White Star Capital, and Indico Capital Partners.
