OpenSeas, a leading NFT marketplace, announced a $300 million in Series C funding in a recent blog post. The latest round raises the company’ post money valuation to about $13.3 billion, they added.
Paradigm and Coatue led the round with participation from new and existing investors, according to the post written by Devin Finzer, co-founder and CEO of OpenSea.
“We are excited to work with these incredible partners, thinkers and builders who collectively bring a depth of experience in Web3, NFTs, and best in class consumer experiences,” Finzer wrote.
OpenSeas reports the funding will be used to accelerate product development, improve customer support and safety, invest in the wider NFT and Web3 community and grow the team.
Navigating Complexity
Product development efforts will include improving accessibility.
Finzer write: “We’re focused on lowering the barriers to entry for NFTs by introducing features and simplified flows that abstract away the complexity of the blockchain. We’re also accelerating our multi-chain support and prioritizing improvements to help people discover, manage, and showcase their NFTs with better tools, analytics, and presentation,”
OpenSea also announced the hiring of Shiva Rajaraman as vice president of Product. Formerly, Rajaraman worked at Meta, where he was the VP of Commerce, as well as YouTube, Spotify and WeWork.
Customer Support
According to Finzer’s post, OpenSea has increased the number of the customer support and trust and safety team members to more than 60 people. They would like to double the size of that team by the end of 2022.
Ecosystem Investment
To grow the NFT space, OpenSea is taking an active stand in investing in the ecosystem.
Finzer reports: “This quarter, we are launching a grant program to give us the opportunity to directly support the developers, builders, and creators shaping the future of the NFT space. Our ambition is to foster the scale and growth of the broader NFT ecosystem including raising the profile of emerging creators and investing in the people who shape the NFT space for the better today.”
Team Growth
OpenSea, which experienced blistering growth, expects a lot more of that crazy growth in 2022. It will require more hands on deck, to keep with the nautical theme.
Finzer writes: “We saw the NFT ecosystem explode last year, with OpenSea’s transaction volume increasing over 600x in 2021. But we’re just getting started – and we need to scale our team quickly! If you’re motivated to build the destination for new open digital economies, we are hiring across the board. We couldn’t be more excited about the journey ahead.”
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