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Who is the most active NFT investor?

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Despite a dip in popularity and sales, NFT (non-homogeneous tokens) is showing strong growth potential as a narrative that intersects reality and virtual.

原文标题：《 NFT「幕后推手」大起底：半年融资逾 10 亿美元，这些 VC 正高调入场》

原文来源： Nancy， PANews

原文编辑： Tong

Despite a dip in popularity and sales, NFT (non-homogeneous tokens) is showing strong growth potential as a narrative that intersects reality and virtual. From collection tide play, music art, virtual real estate, chain games and so on, virtual and real scene interaction has triggered a phenomenon of hot discussion, a variety of innovative play continues to circle, the booming market staged a round of gold rush.

It can be said that the current encryption circle of the most popular concept is not NFT. While THE NFT is very topical, it also shows a strong ability to attract money. In addition to the frequency of sales, traditional and native crypto capital is also competing to spend money. Since the beginning of the year, the NFT has received over $1 billion in funding for infrastructure, trading platforms, games, sports, DeFi, development teams and other tracks, reflecting the high expectations.

So, in the hotspot frequency out of the crypto market, what VC positive high frequency bets on NFT? And what projects have gained the favor of capital?

a16z

A16z (ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ) is a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, California, founded by Marc ANDREESSEN and Ben HOROWITZ. The name A16z is also derived from the A, Z and 16 letters in the middle of the two founders' names.

Since its founding, A16z has invested in stars like Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb and Slack. A16z is a venture-funded media company, unlike other investors. It currently manages $18.8 billion in assets across seven funds, including three crypto funds.

A16z is investing heavily in NFT projects such as OpenSea, Dapper Labs, Zed Run developers Virtually Human Studio, and Bitski. In addition, a16Z launched Canon, an NFT content integration platform, to help content creators, developers, organizations, and others understand how to use NFT.

Coinbase Ventures

Coinbase Ventures is a venture capital fund founded in 2018 by Coinbase, the largest CRYPTOCURRENCY exchange in the United States, to provide early-stage investments in cryptocurrency and blockchain startups. According to its website, Coinbase Ventures has invested in 72 projects.

NFT is also an integral part of Coinbase Ventures' investment blueprint, as Animoca Brands, Rarible, Zora, OpenSea, Dapper Labs, and Genies have all raised funds.

Digital Currency Group

Digital Currency Group (DCG) is the parent company of Grayscale, one of the largest cryptocurrency investment funds in the world. Since its founding, it has invested in 179 projects and was selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential companies in 2021.

Digital Currency Group has a significant position in the crypto market and is one of the few financial conglomerates on Wall Street focused on blockchain and Digital Currency investment. Digital Currency Group has invested heavily in NFT, We have invested in Dapper Labs (FLOW), Decentraland (MANA), Metaverse AI, Big Time Studios, Nftbank. AI and Wilder World. Among them, Greyscale has registered FLOW and MANA's trust funds.

Alameda Research

Alameda Research was founded in 2017 by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), founder of crypto trading platform FTX, which recently raised $900 million, and manages over $1 billion in digital assets, The business includes trading (quantitative trading + market maker), OTC, research and analysis, and investment.

Big Time Studios, Only1, REALY and Persistence are among the projects on Alameda Research's NFT ecological investment landscape that have received funding.

Dragonfly Capital

Dragonfly Capital is a venture Capital firm backed by the founders of Baidu, Meituan, Meitu, Sequoia China, ZhenFund and others. In March, Dragonfly Capital launched a $225 million phase II fund to support projects in the areas of DeFi, NFT and Creator Capital, while Sequoia China will join the phase II fund as a strategic LP.

So far, Dragonfly Capital has invested in Element, Taker Protocol, Showtime, TryShowtime and other projects, with social platforms being a major focus for Dragonfly Capital.

It is worth mentioning that the auction event of the first NFT project of famous contemporary artist CAI Guoqiang, "The Eternity of The Moment -- The Detonation of 101 Gunpowder Paintings", was held by Dragonfly Capital in collaboration with Christie's, Amber Group and other institutions.

Polychain Capital

Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder of Polychain Capital, a native crypto hedge fund founded in San Francisco, California, in 2016, claims to be Coinbase's No. 1 employee, while renowned Litecoin founder Lee Qi-wei is Coinbase's No. 2 employee. As a result, Polychain Capital has attracted $250 million in funding from high-profile venture Capital firms such as A16Z, Sequoia Capital and Union Square Ventures. Polychain Capital has returned 1,332.3% overall since its inception in 2016, according to an investor filing reported by CoinDesk in March.

Polychain Capital is also a major player in the NFT wave, with NFT projects such as Taker Protocol, Nifty "s and Genies all on the investment map.

Galaxy Digital

Galaxy Digital was founded by legendary Wall Street billionaire Mike Novogratz and is listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Toronto Stock Exchange. As of 2020, Galaxy Digital has more than $1.4 trillion under management.

Galaxy Digital invested in NFT projects including Mythical Games, Republic Realm, RTFKT, etc. Novogratz co-founded Candy Digital, a Digital collectibles company, with Fanatics executive chairman Michael Rubin and others, In July this year, NFT was launched with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending champion of the MAJOR League Baseball (MLB) in 2020. Candy Digital's NFT, the first video clip of Lou Gehrig's speech, was purchased by Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of crypto exchange Gemini, for more than $70,000.

Animoca Brands

Animoca Brands is a developer of blockchain games and NFT, including The Sandbox, F1®Delta Time, MotoGP Ignition™ and more. Animoca Brands recently raised $50 million in funding from Blue Pool Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Liberty City Ventures and Samsung Ventures, This round brings it to about $139 million. Among them is Blue Pool Capital, a family wealth fund set up by Mr Ma and Joe Tsai, a core founder of Alibaba.

In addition to being a development platform, Animoca Brands is also expanding its business footprint through investments, which PANews explained in detail in the article "Combing The Animoca Brands Footprint: 37 Moves in 3 Years, Has Become a Chain game and The King behind NFT." Among Animoca Brands' dozens of investments are popular NFT projects such as Alien Worlds, Yield Guild Games, Dapper Labs, Axie Infinity, and WAX. Animoca Brands has also developed partnerships, including nWay's partnership with the International Olympic Committee on the NFT Olympic emblem and cross-platform multiplayer video game, and the Development of the NFT football game with Hedera Hashgraph.

Dapper Labs

Besides CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot, and Flow blockchain, Dapper Labs is a developer of games. It plans to launch an NFT Marketplace called Genies Marketplace on Flow in the third quarter of this year in partnership with avatar technology company Genies, aiming to become the Amazon of meta-cosmic wearable NFT. In its latest round of funding, Dapper Labs raised $305 million, raising its valuation to $2.6 billion, led by Coatue and top stars Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant. Dapper Labs is in the process of raising a new round of funding at a valuation of more than $7.5 billion, a source close to the company said in April.

Like Animoca Brands, Dapper Labs has invested in a variety of NFT projects, including Nifty's, Infinite Objects, Tibles, and Genies.

Samsung Next

Samsung Next is a $150 million investment fund set up by Samsung in 2017 that focuses on artificial intelligence, blockchain and fintech.

As a traditional VC, Samsung Next also accelerated the layout of NFT, has invested in Animoca Brands, Dapper Labs, Flow, SuperRare and Nifty's and other hot projects.

Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is a big fan of cryptocurrencies and a big fan of NFT, which he sees as a big future. In addition to several large purchases and even releases of crypto art, and the active use of NFT, such as Cuban's release of NFT tickets for Dallas Mavericks games next season and the building of NFT digital art gallery Lazy.com, He's also invested in SuperRare, Mintable, Cryptoslam, OpenSea, Sky Mavis, Nifty's, and NFT Genius.

CoinFund

CoinFund, an investment group dedicated to cryptocurrency startups, has three funds, the third of which is an $83 million fund focused on DeFi and NFT projects. In addition, CoinFund plans to launch a new investment vehicle, Metaversal, which will serve not only as a way for investors to bet on the entire NFT market, but also as a development tool for NFT projects.

Currently, CoinFund has invested in NFT projects including Rarible, Flow, Dapper Labs and EthBlockArt.

Hashkey Capital

Hashkey Capital is an investment fund focused on the blockchain industry under Hashkey Group, a hong Kong-based financial conglomerate. Among them, Xiao Feng, chairman of HashKey Group, is vice chairman and executive director of China Wanxiang Holding Co LTD and chairman and general manager of Shanghai Wanxiang Blockchain Co LTD.

As one of Asia's more active venture Capital firms, Hashkey Capital has also been a frequent investor in NFT, with projects such as Animoca Brands, Enjin, Genies, MyNFT and Alchemynft.

Moonwhale Ventures

Moonwhale Ventures is a blockchain technology consulting and investment platform founded in 2017 to help companies implement blockchain, expand/build new Ventures, raise capital, and consult on marketing strategies.

Since this year, Moonwhale Ventures has been extremely active in DeFi, NFT and other areas and has now invested in SpuerRare, Mozik, Nftfy, Crypto Sewage ies, Cryptomeda and Alley, among others.

OKEx Blockdream Ventures

OKEx Blockdream Ventures is OKEx's investment arm focused on discovering high-quality blockchain projects worldwide, with an initial funding of $100 million. Since its establishment, the organization has invested in and supported dozens of blockchain projects around the world, some of which have been launched on platforms such as OKEx.

In the NFT layout, OKEx Blockdream Ventures has invested in Big Time Studios, Genesis, Bondly, ChainGuardians, Efinity and NFTMart, among others.

NGC Ventures

Founded in 2017, NGC Ventures is a venture Capital fund focused on the blockchain industry. Formerly known as NEO Global Capital, NGC Ventures has over $400 million in assets.

As of July 29, NGC Ventures has invested in NFT projects including My Neighbor Alice, ^ ^ 3, Calaxy, Polka.Domain, TopBidder, FM Gallery and Terra Virtua.

Spark Digital Capital

Spark Digital Capital is a famous international cryptocurrency venture Capital fund with a total Capital scale of over hundreds of millions. It focuses on blockchain industry ecology, cryptocurrency and fintech. At present, it has invested in more than 50 blockchain blockbuster projects and early-stage projects of ecology.

Spark Digital Capital has invested in NFT projects such as My DeFi Pet, Mozik, Pandora Finance, Meme.com and NFTMart.

IOSG Ventures

IOSG Ventures is a research and community-driven crypto venture capital fund focused on DeFi, Web3.0, infrastructure and other tracks, and has invested in more than 60 projects.

The NFT sector is also an important part of a diversified portfolio. In addition to investing in NFT projects such as Aavegotchi, Illuvium, Recur, TryRoll and Unic.ly, IOSG Ventures' second $80 million fund is also focused on NFT and social tokens and DeFi, and plans to raise an additional $20 million for the fund.

LD Capital

LD Capital is mainly involved in primary and secondary blockchain investment and trading, with special funds, parent funds, hedge funds, etc. Since 2016, LD Capital has invested in nearly 300 projects, including DeFi, Layer2, Public chain, GameFi, Metaverse and other sectors

Among them, in the NFT field, LD Capital has invested in Flow, Efinity, Illuvium, Seascape, Terra Virtua, Alien Worlds, Cryptoart. Ai, NFTMart and Big Time Studios, In April this year, the NFT fund was established with a level of ten million dollars.

Metacosmic capital

Focus on Metaverse investment Metaverse Capital is more long-term equity investment targets. So far, Metauniverse capital has invested in CryptoC Labs, GameCreator, Rangers Protocol, and NFTScan.

In addition, At the beginning of this year, Meta-universe Capital cooperated with national architect Cthuwork team of STATION B with 700,000 fans, who launched a voxel version of "Along the River At Qingming Festival" NFT blind box in June this year, and will start the construction of the meta-universe of "Along the River At Qingming Festival". Including having been invited by NFT whale player WhaleShark to build a Chinese architecture named "Shenzhen Park" in CryptoVoxels.

Everest Ventures Group

Everest Ventures Group (EVG) is a blockchain investment bank and incubator spin-off from Hong Kong famous private equity/venture capital fund Huiyou Capital. The founding team manages nearly $1 billion of assets, focusing on fintech infrastructure, DeFi, NFT, chain gaming, etc.

As of July 29, NFT Ventures funded and advised by Everest Ventures Group include Flow, Animoca Brands, Gamee, The Sandbox, Mynft and OliveX.

SNZ Holding

Haihua, the founder of SNZ Holding, a crypto asset fund, consultant and community builder, was one of the early participants in the Ethereum community. Since 2016, SNZ Holding has deeply laid out the investment, consulting services and community construction of the blockchain industry.

SNZ Holding has invested in several NFT projects, including Animoca Brands, Flow, X World Games, REALY and Treasureland.

GBV Capital

GBV Capital, the investment arm of The Genesis Block, operates an over-the-counter cryptocurrency business based in Hong Kong. It was backed by Alameda Research and acquired OMG Network, a two-tier expansion plan for Ethereum, in December.

To date, GBV Capital has invested in Only1, Vera, PolkaRARE, Refinable and Efinity, among other NFT projects.

AU21 Capital

AU21 Capital is an Asian, US venture Capital fund based in Silicon Valley that invests in early stage blockchain startups. It has invested in Cryptoart. Ai, DeRace, Hodooi, Mozik and NFTMart, among others.