a16z Archives - Boardroom

Metaverse VC Roundup: 2022 Year in Review

Michelai Graham — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 20:30:42 +0000

Boardroom’s latest Metaverse VC Roundup highlights the top venture capital deals and trends across the market this year.

2022 was a year to remember in the metaverse VC world, complete with multi-million- (and sometimes billion-) dollar raises and investments.

Epic Games pulled in one of the biggest deals when the video game and software developer nabbed $2 billion to continue building on its metaverse ambitions, specifically to develop digital sports fan experiences and other virtual production initiatives. This was a big one, but venture capital flow was down in some areas, and skyrocketing in others. What’s remained the same is that companies are still pouring dollars into the unpredictable, yet progressive space.

We’re going to keep this latest version of Boardroom’s Metaverse VC Roundup simple and sweet by laying out the top crypto funds and Web3 venture capital deals announced in 2022.

Top 5 new crypto funds investing in Web3:

A16z‘s $4.5 billion crypto fund: The Silicon Valley firm raised its fourth crypto fund to invest in crypto and blockchain companies.
Animoca Brands’ $2 billion fund: The blockchain and gaming leader launched the Animoca Capital fund to invest in middle- and late-stage metaverse startups.
Dragonfly capital’s $650 million fund: The crypto-focused VC firm launched its third venture fund to continue investing in crypto startups.
Binance Labs’ $500 million fund: Crypto exchange Binance launched its own venture capital fund under its VC arm to capitalize on the slowing crpyto industry.
Multicoin Capital’s $430 million fund: The firm is using its third crypto fund to invest in crrypto companies with plans to deploy all of the capital by mid-2023.

In addition, a bunch of Web3 VC deals closed this year. These were the most impactful:

Top 10 Web3 VC deals from 2022:

Yuga Labs’ $450 million investment: Bored Ape Yacht Club’s parent company raised the big bucks to build its NFT metaverse, Otherside.
OneFootball’s $300 million Series D: The Berlin-based soccer gaming and media company raised the funds to expand, invest in Web3 companies, and launch a joint venture called OneFootball Labs with Animoca Brands and Liberty City Ventures.
Mysten Labs’ $300 million investment: The crypto company closed the round led by FTX Ventures at a $2 billion valuation. (We’ll have more to come on FTX’s investments and what’s to come of them soon)
Immutable’s $280 million Series C: The developer of the Immutable X platform saw its valuation rise to $3.5 bilion with this round as it works to take blockchain gaming global.
Uniswap Labs’ $165 million Series B: The developer of the largest decentralized exchange closed the round at a $1.66 billion valuation to invest more in its app and build out developer tools.
KuCoin’s $150 million pre-Series B: The crypto exchange now valued at $10 billion is using the funds to expand its product offerings and break more into the broader Web3 market.
Magic Eden’s $130 million Series B: The one-year-old NFT marketplace used the funds to expand its primary and secondary platforms to support more blockchain networks aside from Solana.
Animoca Brands’ $110 million strategic investment: The prominent gaming brand is putting the funding toward investments, acquisitions, product development, and intellectual property licenses.
Doodles’ $54 million Series A: The NFT project quietly raised $54 million at a $704 million valuation to fund product development, acquisitions, media, more experiences for collectors, and proprietary technology.
PROOF’s $50 million Series A: The organization behind the Moonbirds NFT project is using the funding to build out its development team, launch a Moonbirds DAO, create a social platform, and release a new NFT collection.

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The Black Digital Art Collective: New Initiative Led By a16z’s Cultural Leadership Fund

Michelai Graham — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 20:04:34 +0000

The Black Digital Art Collective is on a mission to invest in and onboard Black artists to Web3 and the blockchain.

Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) Cultural Leadership Fund (CLF) has teamed up with organizations in the digital art and Web3 space to launch a new initiative supporting Black artists on the blockchain.

CLF welcomed Black@, Dope Black Art, Fairchain, and LOVE WATTS as founding members of The Black Digital Art Collective, a community of cultural leaders, Black creators, digital artists, and others working to invest in and support Black culture and art in Web3. The collective is set up like a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), meaning members have complete control over deciding the organization’s values and vision.

The Black Digital Art Collective has three main goals: to increase black artists’ and creators’ presence & influence in Web3, to educate Black communities on Web3, and to support current and future Black web3 creators and artists. The new organization plans to accomplish this by collecting Black art on the blockchain and helping Black artists transition their artwork into digital masterpieces.

CLF officially announced the Black Digital Art Collective on Tuesday in Miami at its premiere Art Basel event, “Forward: The Future of Black Digital Art.”

Megan Holston-Alexander, a partner at a16z and leader of CLF. (Photo courtesy of Crooks Lane Media)

“CLF is all about creators, artistry, and entertainers, and there’s this really interesting marriage that has been happening between art and technology,” Megan Holston-Alexander, a partner at a16z and leader of CLF, told Boardroom in an exclusive interview. “Last year was the first time we activated at Basel, so we felt it was most important to put this new initiative on display here to ensure Black artists are being featured. It’s the perfect time for them to get their shine.”

Holston-Alexander said the collective has been a year and a half in the making. She feels that since Web3 is still in the early adoption phase, it’s more important now than ever to ensure Black artists have a seat at the table. At the event, the collective featured artwork from the first batch of artists it will be supporting.

Here are the art pieces and artists that were on display:

CLF selected Black@, Dope Black Art, Fairchain, and LOVE WATTS as cultural curators charged with finding and sourcing Black artists for the collective to work with.

“They went on the most amazing hunt to find art representative of the culture and the future that the collective is building,” Holston-Alexander said. “We’re really proud of this structure of having the community pick the art.”

Most of the work coming from these artists are already one-of-one NFTs, Holston-Alexander said, and the collective is helping ensure all of the artists have some of their art on the blockchain. The collective is still figuring out how it will operate, but CLF will continue funding and supporting it for a minimum of two to three years.

“That’s one of the beauties of decentralization is that it’s really up to the group,” she said. “We’re starting this as a collective, but over time, we’re hoping the group takes on a life of its own and becomes decentralized and has the format of a DAO with voting rights for members.”

Holston-Alexander hopes the Black Digital Art Collective functions as a gateway to help legitimize Web3 early on for the Black community. She said it’s essential to CLF to make sure the Black community doesn’t get left behind as this new technological wave emerges.

“We’re using art and NFTs as a hook to get more people interested in and involved with the space,” Holston-Alexander said. “The goal overall is to increase knowledge of Web3 and crypto.”

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Celebrating International NFT Day

Michelai Graham — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 19:56:58 +0000

Web3 and crypto organizations teamed up to celebrate NFT Day five years after the market’s framework was first shared.

Tuesday, Sept. 20 marks the first-ever International NFT Day.

If you’re wondering why Tuesday of all days, it’s simply because it marks five years since Dieter Shirley submitted the ERC-721 proposal — a token standard that developers agree to follow on Ethereum for nonfungible tokens (NFTs). ERC-721 marked the first use of the term “nonfungible token.” Shortly after, thousands of NFT projects began to spring up since developers finally figured out how to link artwork and digital goods to verifiable tokens.

Gm September 20th is going to be a good day It’s the inauguration of #NFTDay and you’re invited to come celebrate! pic.twitter.com/wgfIbIfmfm
— NFT Day | September 20 (@OfficialNFTDay) September 13, 2022

Shirley is now the CTO at Dapper Labs, where he co-created CryptoKitties, the first known blockchain-based game that leverages NFTs. This is the first known use case for Ethereum’s blockchain and smart contracts tech, allowing players to purchase, collect, breed, and sell virtual cats.

“Within a few short years, NFTs have already encouraged people to take their first steps into decentralized technology, but we’re still early in the journey,” Shirley said in an official news release. “NFTs allow people to own a piece of social space, from virtual locations, music, fashion, and art – even individual moments representing significant cultural touchstones. NFT Day gives all creators an opportunity to tell that story together.”

Five years of NFTs

ERC-721 and Cryptokitties helped push the mainstream adoption of blockchain tech that continues to expand today. According to Verified Market Research, the NFT market was valued at $11.3 billion in 2021. It’s expected to reach nearly $232 billion by 2030.

To commemorate International NFT Day, Dapper joins a group of organizers, including OpenSea, a16z crypto, Coinbase NFT, CryptoSlam, and Ripple, to host virtual events and in-person meetups.

Dapper is also giving away commemorative collectibles that are free to claim for anyone. The NFTs are minted on the Flow blockchain, with holders automatically entered into a drawing to win NFT Day merch. Currently, nearly 40,000 people have minted their own.

OpenSea is celebrating by featuring historical NFT collections on its homepage. The premiere NFT marketplace has been in business since NFTs hit the market five years ago. Some collections featured on OpenSea’s website today include Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoKitties, CryptoPunks, and Degen Toonz.

4/ When OpenSea launched in 2017, we knew this technology had immense potential. It’s been so powerful to watch the space evolve over the past 5 years and we wouldn’t be here without this incredible community.

There is still so much to come
— OpenSea (@opensea) September 20, 2022

Here are some more celebratory tweets from around the NFT community.

Happy #NFTDay, frens! From Animoca Brands family#NFT #web3 #metaverse pic.twitter.com/JmgKdZpF7A
— Animoca Brands (@animocabrands) September 20, 2022

Happy @OfficialNFTDay #NFTday! 5 years ago, the term NFT was published for the first time in ERC-721.

To celebrate, we’re giving away our “NFT Boom” article, edition #99.https://t.co/jGHUW0xWpb

Like, RT, share your favorite art NFT & tell us what makes it special.
— Vault by CNN (@vaultbycnn) September 20, 2022

We are seeing so many awesome giveaways on #NFTDay. Let's keep things organized with a thread

We'll be dropping some contests below, but feel free to share yours too!

— NFT Day | September 20 (@OfficialNFTDay) September 20, 2022

The post Celebrating International NFT Day appeared first on Boardroom.

Into the Future With Vayner3

Michelai Graham — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 22:08:15 +0000

Things are getting even busier in Vayner world following VeeFriends’ $50 million seed raise and a notable Web3 rebrand. Boardroom spoke to Vayner3 President Avery Akkineni about what’s next.

Gary Vaynerchuk’s flagship NFT project, VeeFriends, recently closed a $50 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. A16z’s Chris Lyons confirmed the round on Twitter and with a blog post on July 28.

gm! I'm very excited to announce that @a16z crypto is leading a $50M round in @veefriends. We look forward to helping the team fuel expansion plans for its creative, technical and experiential operations that support the growing Web3 community! https://t.co/p2KN3SPMGT
— chrislyons (@ChrisLyons) July 28, 2022

“Gary and the VeeFriends team are building an engaged community through unique content and experiences, tied together through the power of Web3,” Lyons said in the blog post. “VeeFriends represents the ethos of entrepreneurship, and we’re humbled by the opportunity to support Gary and the VeeFriends community on this journey.”

VeeFriends shared in a separate blog post that it plans to use the investment to build intellectual property based on the 283 core VeeFriends characters. This includes expanding its creative, technical, and experiential operations and attracting new talent from the Web3 and entertainment sectors. Remember when Gary Vee announced at VeeCon that building out Accountable Ant’s story is his next big focus? Looks like he’ll be making good on that promise pretty soon.

It’s safe to say Vaynerchuk and Co. are having a massive year, as this raise comes after his Web3 consultancy rebranded as Vayner3 earlier this month. On the heels of all this success, Boardroom spoke with Vayner3’s President, Avery Akkineni, about where the company is headed.

A Brand Reborn

Vaynerchuk announced in July that what was once VaynerNFT would become Vayner3. He continues on as company CEO, while Akkineni serves as President.

The strategic consultancy is on a mission to guide enterprises and IP owners alike as they build in Web3. This new focus is an expansion of what the company was already doing and to focus more broadly on Web3 as a whole. Vaynerchuk first launched VaynerNFT a little over a year ago to serve the rapidly growing NFT industry; Vayner3 is focused on helping users take the next step in navigating the ever-expanding Web3 world.

Avery Akkineni, president of Vayner3

“What we’ve learned over the past year or so is that NFTs are an incredible entry point mechanism for the world of Web3 because consumers and brands understand collectibility,” Akkineni told Boardroom in an exclusive interview. “It’s really just the beginning of what’s possible in the multi-dimensional world of Web3, which can include everything from cryptocurrency strategy to tokenization, to metaverse activation, and so much more.”

Akkineni said Vayner3 is equipped to provide a broader suite of services to its clients. She also expanded on why this rebrand was more important now than ever, but emphasized that Vayner3 is anything but new to this sort of work — and if you know anything about Vayner brands, you know Gary Vee is known for not simply keeping up with the times, but staying ahead of them. The rebrand notably arrived on the company’s first anniversary in business.

“We wanted our name to reflect really the full suite of what we can bring to market, so we thought it was the right time,” Akkineni said. “It felt like the natural time during our first birthday to keep on that evolution and that next step to where we think our company is going to be heading.”

In its first year in business, Vayner3 has served more than 12 Fortune 500 companies, including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Coinbase, Diageo, and PepsiCo. The company has also hosted activations at Art Basel and SXSW and brought more than 7,000 NFT enthusiasts together for the inaugural VeeCon conference in May. Vayner3 also recently partnered with Gatorade to launch the beverage brand’s first NFT collection.

“We still are deep believers in NFTs,” Akkineni said, “but NFTs are only one part of that broader Web3 ecosystem, which we see as transforming the consumer experience in the next iteration of consumer behavior.”

What’s Next for Vayner3?

As Vayner3 expands its brand, the company is committed to hiring new employees across strategic, creative, and operational roles. There are more than 10 open roles at Vayner3 as of this writing, as well as several others across all of the VaynerMedia brands.

Fun fact: Akkineni said she first connected with a handful of Vayner3’s C-suite employees on Twitter before they joined the team. (This is your sign to get on Twitter to stay connected with the Web3 world.)

Long-term, Akkineni envisions Vayner3 as the go-to Web3 consultancy of practitioners by being hands-on with their strategic plans. She said the company can accomplish this by building a strong team of Web3 professionals, doing the best work in front of and behind the scenes, and helping its partners develop real business outcomes.

In the shorter term, meanwhile, Akkineni said the Vayner3 team is focused on creating some “game-changing programs” to create new connections between enterprises and consumers.

“We really want to take advantage of using technology as a force for good,” she said.

The post Into the Future With Vayner3 appeared first on Boardroom.

Drake Drops Surprise Seventh Album with “Honestly, Nevermind”

Rory Robinson — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 13:11:13 +0000

Drake is back. The king of OVO announced late Thursday that his seventh studio album Honestly, Nevermind would drop at midnight. The 14-track release includes production from Black Coffee, Noah 40 Shebib, and more. Drake also dropped the album’s first video for “Falling Back” in which he marries 23 women and features a cameo from Tristan Thompson. Aubrey also launched a new show Table for One on Sirius XM in the run-up to the drop.

FIFA Rolls Out Venues for 2026 Men’s World Cup

The FIFA World Cup is headed to the Americas. The soccer federation revealed the 16 cities that will host all 80 matches, spanning the United States, Canada, and Mexico. New York, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco emerged as repeats from when the U.S. hosted the 1994 men’s World Cup. While the schedule has not been revealed at this time, Los Angeles, New York, and Mexico City are viewed as the favorites to host the final.

Boardroom assembled the full list of host cities.

Sue Bird Confirms Retirement After 2022 Season

Sue Bird is sending her jersey to the rafters. After a 21-year career with the Seattle Storm, the WNBA legend announced her retirement from basketball at the end of the 2022 season. The 12-time All-Star and eight-time All-WNBA selection leads the league as its all-time assist leader (3,114 and counting) and as a four-time WNBA champion.

Magic Johnson Grows Web3 Portfolio as New Football Team Owner

Believe in Magic. NBA legend Magic Johnson recently revealed himself as the newest owner of the Los Angeles Magic of SimWin Sports’ football league. The league is the world’s first digital sports association that integrates a fantasy and betting overlay, delivering fans the ability to watch, predict play calls, and collect NFTs. Other team owners include LaMelo Ball, Jerry Rice, Penny Hardaway, and Dr. Jen Welter. The league’s inaugural start date is currently unknown.

Off-White Reveals Hole New MLB x New Era Collection

Off-White and the MLB are collaborating on a high-end collection. The collaboration celebrates six different MLB clubs including the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, and Chicago Cubs. The viral collection features an array of hats, hoodies, jerseys, and t-shirts. Each piece features large “meteor holes” and jerseys are set to retail for $1,030.

LAFC Granted Equity Option with NWSL Club Angel City

MLS’s LAFC has options. The team’s four-year lease agreement with Banc of California Stadium gives the club potential to invest in women’s club Angel City FC. LAFC will allow Angel City to play home games in its stadium. In exchange, LAFC will earn a cut of the ticket, merch, and concessions sales for games that Angel City plays at home. Angel City has nearly 100 investors (a league-high) and is currently shopping naming rights to the stadium valued at nearly $350 million.

Anderson .Paak, Blake Griffin, & Maya Moore Invest in Black Equity in Tech

“The age of the disengaged celebrity is over,” Cultural Leadership Fund president Megan Holston-Alexander recently told Boardroom. CLF and a16z announced the launch of their third fund, advancing opportunities for the Black community in technology. The third fund includes a huge number of athletes and celebrities, including Anderson .Paak, Blake Griffin, Maya Moore, and Patrick Mahomes.

Excel Sports Management Acquires Creative Agency Game Seven

Excel Sports Management purchased Brooklyn-based creative agency Game Seven. Game Seven is a ubiquitous collaborator in the space, working with Nike, Foot Locker, Oakley, Bleacher Report, Instagram, Spotify, and Meta.

Ezekiel Elliott and Ja’Marr Chase Join Unicorn Hunters Show Investment Team

Ezekiel Elliott and Ja’Marr Chase are jumping into the investing game. The two NFL stars became the newest brand ambassadors for the Unicorn Hunters Show. The company creates a new way to invest by combining television entertainment with wealth-growth potential for individual investors and founders. It plans to democratize access to wealth, giving a chance for viewers home to invest in companies vying to become the next tech “unicorn.” Cris Carter and Rod Woodson are also global ambassadors for the project.

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