・NBA Players Andre Iguodala, Spencer Dinwiddie, JaVale McGee, and Aaron Gordon join Samsung, Coinbase Ventures, and THE A16Z CULTURAL LEADERSHIP FUND in Dapper Labs $12M Investment round for Flow blockchain.
・Dapper Labs’ new funding comes on the heels of the company’s early success with NBA Top Shot, a new flagship application.
・Funds will be used to scale the Flow blockchain and deliver previously announced collaborations with Dr. Seuss, Warner Music, and UFC, among others.
Dapper Labs, the company developing the new Flow blockchain, announced that it has closed $12M in new funding from investors including NBA players Andre Iguodala (Miami Heat), Spencer Dinwiddie and Garrett Temple (Brooklyn Nets), JaVale McGee (Los Angeles Lakers), and Aaron Gordon (Orlando Magic).
Other new investors in this 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 participating include Accomplice, Andreessen Horowitz including their Cultural Leadership Fund, Animoca Brands, AppWorks, Samsung NEXT, Union Square Ventures and Venrock, among others.
“Crypto enables entirely new possibilities for people to create and exchange value on the internet.” said Roham Gharegozlou, founder and CEO of Dapper Labs. “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 big as the NBA. Flow lets fans join the economy of their community in a way that wasn’t possible before crypto.”
In conjunction with its new 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. 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 mainstream basketball fans’ love of showcasing their knowledge and expressing their fandom. The experience captures the nostalgia of trading cards and the thrill of sneaker trading, but does it within a digital universe.
“Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize consumer ownership on the internet,” said Andre Iguodala, three time NBA champion, tech entrepreneur, and current Miami Heat forward. “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.”
As fans enter into the Top Shot universe, they are instantly 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 their assets with their peers to complete sets and win challenges. New invitations to the beta are being released in waves and interested parties may sign up on nbatopshot.com, and then visit discord.gg/nbatopshot to request early access.
“Blockchain is going to fundamentally alter the financial industry and have a major impact on consumers,” said Spencer Dinwiddie, Point Guard on the Brooklyn Nets and avid blockchain enthusiast. “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.”
Over 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. 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.
For more information about Flow, please visit onflow.org. For more information on how to begin playing NBA Top Shot, please visit nbatopshot.com.
About Dapper Labs
Dapper Labs is the company behind CryptoKitties and the Flow blockchain as well as upcoming titles like NBA Top Shot. Founded in 2018, Dapper Labs uses blockchain technology to bring new forms of digital engagement to fans around the world. Blockchain-enabled applications can bring fans closer with the brands they love, give people a real stake in the communities they contribute to, and create new ways for consumers to become creators themselves. Publicly-announced Dapper Labs partners include the NBA and NBPA, Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, and UFC. Notable investors in Dapper Labs include Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Venrock, Google Ventures, Samsung, and the founders of Dreamworks, Reddit, Coinbase, Zynga, and AngelList, among others. Vist Dapper Labs.
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