DappRadar – the #1 global app store for NFTs & DeFi – raises $5 million in Series A funding to consolidate its position as the industry’s largest ‘dapp’ distribution platform.
Bolstered by the recent interest in Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) & DeFi (Decentralized Finance), DappRadar’s new funds will enable the company to bring the platform to the mainstream and expand its new Portfolio Tracker product.
LONDON & VILNIUS, FRIDAY 7 MAY 2021 – DappRadar (www.dappradar.com) is the Lithuania-founded, global app store for decentralized applications “dapps” which makes it easy for users to track dapp activity online via its increasingly popular platform.
The latest global startup player from the emerging Baltic tech scene, DappRadar has over 500,000 monthly users tracking more than 5,000 dapps on over 20 blockchains, including Ethereum, BINANCE Smart Chain, Polygon, and Flow, amongst others. DappRadar plans to use its $5 million in Series A funding to enhance platform functionality and promote widespread dapp adoption. Decentralized applications (dapps) are digital applications that exist and run on a blockchain or peer-to-peer network of computers instead of a single computer. As a result, they are outside the purview, influence and control of a single authority, making them more reliable.
Key investors include Prosus Ventures, the venture arm of Prosus, one of the largest technology investors in the world, Blockchain.com Ventures, a fund anchored by Lightspeed Venture Partners and the venture arm of the world’s largest non-custodial crypto wallet, and NordicNinja VC, a deeptech-focused venture capital fund based in the Nordics & Baltics.
Decentralized apps hit the mainstream
DappRadar, which pioneered the dapp space back in 2018 when its platform began offering users the ability to track and measure activity on dapps for the very first time, has borne witness to record-high activity within the NFT space, which saw more than $1.5 billion in volume traded in Q1 2021 alone; an increase of 2,627% compared with the last quarter of 2020. DeFi, which is experiencing similar market growth, with over $100 billion in total value locked as of April 2021, is also trackable via DappRadar.
Global popularity in NFTs has recently exploded following several high profile sales. Notable examples include Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey selling his first ever tweet as an NFT for $2,915,835.47, before donating the fee in Bitcoin to charitable fund GiveDirectly. Digital artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann currently holds the record for the highest-value NFT sale to date, with ‘Everydays: The First 5000 Days’ selling for $69.3 million at Christie’s Auction House in New York (the first time that the venerable auction house has ever sold a purely digital artwork and one of the most expensive artworks ever sold).
Skirmantas Januskas, CEO and Co-founder of DappRadar, comments: “We’ve been on the scene since 2018, but the recent surge of interest in the decentralized app and NFT space has been truly astonishing. It’s clear that 2021 is the year that NFTs went mainstream, but we are still only just scratching the surface in terms of the potential widespread adoption of blockchain technology.
“People all across the world, including leading institutions from industries such as art, gaming, and sports, are turning their eyes towards NFTs and have realised that any unique digital item is something that can be discovered, bought, and sold using blockchain, in an accessible way that no longer feels reserved for just those ‘in-the-know’.”
“We’re excited for the future as DappRadar helps provide a bridge into the mainstream. With this new funding, our platform is now in a strong position as the leading dapp store in the world, and we plan to help the public to stay informed and educated within the fast-paced world of dapps, NFTs, and DeFi.”
“Since our initial investment in 2019, the DappRadar team has repeatedly demonstrated their ability to deliver incredible products,” said Banafsheh Fathieh, Head of Americas Investments, Prosus Ventures. “DappRadar is already the most visited, trusted and cited source for the dapp ecosystem and we believe this new round provides them with the funds to play a significant role in the growth of the overall dapp market moving forward.”
“There is an increasing demand for dapps in Asia and we can see especially the Japanese market maturing fast. Japan is already the 2nd largest market for DappRadar and to fulfil this increasing demand, the service has just been published in Japanese.” says Tomosaku Sohara, Managing Partner of NordicNinja VC.
How DappRadar Works
DappRadar brings all the information people need about NFTs and the DeFi dapp ecosystem into one destination.
The service offers consumers the ability to follow, discover, view and analyse dapps using accurate up to the minute insights, effectively manage their crypto portfolio, value NFT collections and easily access overviews of several key dapp verticals including NFTs, gaming, DeFi, exchanges, collectibles and marketplaces.
DappRadar takes a strong standpoint on data validity and provision – tracking dapp active users, token volume and transactions and actively filtering artificial and irrelevant activity – to deliver accurate, actionable, market intelligence.
About DappRadar
DappRadar is the #1 global decentralized app store for NFTs and DeFi dapps headquartered in Lithuania. DappRadar offers a dapp discovery and portfolio management platform, backed by leading technology investors including Prosus Ventures, Blockchain.com Ventures & NordicNinja VC, that aims to make exploring, tracking & managing dapps, insightful, convenient and rewarding for all.
About Prosus Ventures
Prosus is a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Operating and investing globally in markets with long-term growth potential, Prosus builds leading consumer internet companies that empower people and enrich communities.
The group is focused on building meaningful businesses in the online classifieds, food delivery, payments and fintech, and education technology sectors in markets including India, Russia, and Brazil. Through its ventures team, Prosus invests in areas including health, logistics, blockchain, and social commerce. Prosus actively seeks new opportunities to partner with exceptional entrepreneurs who are using technology to improve people’s everyday lives. Hundreds of millions of people have made the platforms of Prosus’s associates a part of their daily lives. For listed companies where we have an interest, please see: Tencent, Mail.ru, Trip.com Group Limited, and Delivery Hero. Today, Prosus companies and associates help improve the lives of around a fifth of the world’s population.
Prosus has a primary listing on Euronext Amsterdam (AEX:PRX) and secondary listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (XJSE:PRX) and a2X Markets (PRX.AJ). Prosus is majority-owned by Naspers. For more information, please visit www.prosus.com.
About Blockchain.com Ventures
Blockchain.com Ventures is a venture capital fund and a subsidiary of Blockchain.com. Blockchain.com Ventures was created to support and invest in distributed LEDGER technology (DLT) projects that advance the industry and provide positive societal impact. With support from its parent company, Blockchain Ventures aims to contribute to the creation of an open, fair, and accessible financial system and promote DLT use-cases that are revolutionary beyond finance.
About NordicNinja VC
NordicNinja VC is a deeptech focused fund investing in the Nordic and Baltic region and the largest Japanese fund in Europe, backed by Japan Bank for International Cooperation – one of the largest governmental financial institutions – Panasonic, Honda and Omron. Since their launch in 2019, they’ve done 13 investments. www.nordicninja.vc
