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Birmingham Post
Birmingham Post
Business
Jon Robinson

NFT marketplace partnered with Adidas, Netflix and Adobe secures £3.5m boost

A NFT business, which was established in a basement in 2018, has completed a £3.5m funding round.

The investment into KnownOrigin was co-led by venture capital firms GBV and Sanctor Capital.

The company has partnerships with the likes of Adidas, Netflix and Adobe and was founded by UX consultant David Moore and blockchain engineers Andy Gray and James Morgan.

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The funding round also saw participation from Cultur3 Capital, D1 Ventures, MetaCartel Ventures DAO, LD Capital, Pluto Digital and Future Arts, Colborn and Yin Cao.

In a statement, the company added that over the last year it has 'generated more than $ 30m in sales and have seen a tenfold increase in unique collectors and creators'.

Mr Gray said: "In 2018 we wanted to give creatives a more transparent way to sell their work.

"Fast forward to today and we’re working with over 5000 creators who are selling NFTs to collectors around the world."

Mr Moore added: "We approached our funding round with care, seeking out investors who share our vision of helping digital creators monetise their craft.

"The £3.5m raised will be reinvested into the business to further support artists in the space going forward."

Mr Morgan said: "Funding will enable KO to not only grow and innovate but to build the ecosystem we envisage. NFTs have bloomed in the last year and there is danger of pushing space into bad habits that linger from the Web 2 world.

"We want a permissionless, transparent, fair thriving ecosystem where creators and collectors can engage in culture excellence and experience."

Ilya Abugov, co-founder and partner at Sanctor Capital. added: "We are incredibly excited about the future of KnownOrigin.

"David, Andy and James are true missionary founders who really care about the creator community.

"They understand the challenges in the space and have the vision and technological prowess to make a difference. We can’t wait to see what the team has in store."

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