May 6, 2022
By Sharan Kaur Phillora
The popular NFT marketplace Zora received a huge boost this week, raising $50 million in seed funding. Leading this latest round of funding is Haun Ventures, including Coinbase Ventures and Kindred Ventures.
Here’s what we know:
Haun is a new venture fund making its first big move in the NFT space. The investment will help to improve Zora, the open-source marketplace protocol. Importantly, it will allow them to challenge a market that OpenSea dominates.
The round valued Zora at $600 million, and it also includes investments from Coinbase Ventures, Kindred Ventures, and more.
“Haun Ventures is backing teams building a better internet,” Sam Rosenblum of Haun Ventures said. “NFTs are a core building block that is central to the future of the web. We believe NFTs will produce a new generation of creators and makers who will enjoy more equitable economics thanks to a web built with better incentives that fairly values the contributions of those who create the culture”.
Jacob Horne, co-founder of Zora, said in a blog post that the company began its journey with the shared belief that creativity should never be gatekept by the suits, corps, and institutions.
“In our original manifesto, we set out to collectively shatter the idea that They Thought They Could Own Us,” Horne wrote. “Since then, each member of our community has been working to dismantle the gates that have historically held back our creative independence. Today, we are excited to introduce our latest venture contributor supporting these efforts.”
Horne said that, for the community, this means more open tooling to build independence—whether it be a new collection, a new marketplace, or a new app. It means easier tools for artists and teams to launch any NFT collection they would like: editions, generative drops, dutch auctions, and whatever’s next.
The company is launching the Zora DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) to expand ownership of Zora to its community. Zora will always be permissionless infrastructure, Horne said.
About the author
Sharan Kaur Phillora’s thirst for knowledge has led her to study many different subjects, including NFTs and Blockchain technology – two emerging technologies that will change how we interact with each other in the future. When she isn’t exploring a new idea or concept, she enjoys reading literary masterpieces.
