SuperRare, one of the leading marketplaces for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has cashed in on NFT mania with a $9 million funding round led by tech VCs Velvet Sea and 1confirmation.
Mark Cuban, Chamath Palihapitiya, Marc Benioff and other well-heeled tech backers also participated in SuperRare’s Series A, the three year-old startup told CoinDesk.
The round comes as crypto worth millions pours into blockchain-linked digital collectibles. While huge sales by relatively established artists like Beeple catch the mainstream headlines, an army of lesser-known NFT creators are also selling for six-figures on marketplaces like SuperRare.
Artists are now generating over $25 million in total sales per month on SuperRare, the startup said. When it launched three years ago, a given month might have seen just $8,000 total.
But the crowd driving SuperRare’s boon remains surprisingly small.
Just 727 wallet addresses combined for $5.47 million in SuperRare trading volume in the past week, according to on-chain data site DappRadar. It was the fifth-largest NFT marketplace by volume over that period.
SuperRare occupies a relatively small but gilded corner of the surging $400 million NFT scene. Unlike format competitors OPENSEA and Nifty Gateway, which are larger and more akin to collectible clearinghouses than swanky digital art showrooms, SuperRare only lists one-for-one editions, making its fare feel almost gallery-like.
Founders John Crain and Jonathan Perkins will invest the round in accelerating platform growth, they said. Future features include social rollouts, upgrades to the marketplace backend, a foray into VR and taking steps to ensure featured works remain accessible in the long-term.
