Investors have continued to dole out millions to crypto and NFT startups, and FanCraze is one of the latest to receive its share. The Flow-based NFT marketplace for official cricket collectibles has raised $100 million in Series A funding, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
As per the report, the round was led by B Capital Group and Insight Partners, with participation from South Korea’s Mirae Asset. Sources familiar with the matter also said that international soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the investors.
Co-founded by Stanford University alumnus and former investment banker Anshum Bhambri, FanCraze made its debut into the NFT space in 2021. The startup inked a deal with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to launch exclusive cricket NFTs on the Flow blockchain, the same blockchain powering the popular NBA Top Shots collectibles.
Back in December, the company raised $17.4 million in seed funding led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from Coatue, Sequoia Capital India, and Dapper Labs. A month later, it launched its NFT marketplace and released its first pack of NFTs.
Speaking of investments, NFT startups appear to be the hottest kid on the block. In January, leading NFT marketplace OpenSea raised $300 million in a Series C round led by Paradigm and Coatue. The company was valued at $13.3 billion, a huge growth from its $1.5 billion valuation just six months earlier. Similarly, Solana’s leading NFT platform Magic Eden $27 million in Series A about a week ago.