On 13th September NFT project Doodles raised $54 million in equity funding from Seven Seven Six, Acrew Capital, FTX Ventures and 10T Holdings.
Doodles, which began minting its pastel NFTs just over a year ago, has one of the most easily recognizable pfp collections internet. According to NFTPriceFloor, the 10,000-image collection has a combined worth of about 74,800 ETH or $118 million. Bored Ape Yacht Club is the most popular NFT series with a market capitalization of $1.27 billion.
The Doodles collection comprises 100 traits that were blended and paired in various ways to create one-of-a-kind pieces—no two are alike. Because of their rarity, some have sold for as much as 296.69 eth ($1.1 million at the time of sale). The most valuable Doodles have a golden color. #6914 is the most expensive Doodle sold, and it has unique ape qualities.
The company plans to use the venture money to expand into music and gaming–areas that are becoming more and more popular. It is estimated that this series of fund raising will bring the valuation of Doodles to $704 million.
In recent months, overall NFT prices and trading have plummeted. According to data from The Block, only $191 million was traded in August, down dramatically from nearly $3.5 billion in transactions in May.
Doodles, on the other hand, have been bucking the trend. Despite the transaction volume being down 6%, other leading NFT Bluechips have taken a far worse beating. Bored Ape Yacht Club volume is down 40% while CryptoPunks, the second-largest NFT collection by market value ($1.09 billion), is down 77%. The bear market and a shift away from high-risk investments have contributed to a drop in NFT transactions.
A quick look at the VC Investors:
Alexis Ohanian’s is Reddit’s co-founder and Initialized Capital, a San Francisco-based early stage venture firm. Alexis is also a co-founder of 776 Ventures, an NFT-focused investment vehicle.
Acrew Capital is a new venture fund focused on digital assets and NFTs. The firm was founded by former Goldman Sachs executives Salil Deshpande and David Weild IV.
FTX Ventures is the investment arm of FTX, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. The firm has invested in a number of leading crypto companies, including BlockFi, Coinbase, and Nexo.
10T Holdings is an investment firm focused on digital assets and blockchain technology. The firm was founded by early Bitcoin investor and entrepreneur Jeff Garzik.
Katelin Holloway & Doodles
Katelin Holloway, 776 founding partner and Doodles board member, was first introduced to the company by Alexis Ohanian. However, it wasn’t until she met the Doodles team at South by Southwest last year that she became truly invested in the brand.
“As we scale and we scale rapidly,” adds Hoguin, “having her as a sounding board and as a true partner is going to be invaluable because we want to be built on culture, we want to elicit joy and creativity.” Julian Hoguin, Doodles CEO
Doodles Music
In June, Doodles appointed the singer Pharrell Williams as chief brand officer supporting the brand’s expansion into music NFT’s. According to CEO, Julian Holguin, Music NFTs are a way to introduce people to Web3. “We want to create products for our core collector base, but at the same time utilize these great forms of marketing like music, to introduce new people to Web3 and onboard them into the Doodles ecosystem”.
Doodles will release a music NFT project in partnership with Columbia Records within the next six months. The company refused to share any details about it, other than it will feature a song that will get radio play and streaming exposure, as well as having “an underlying adaptation experience”.
Doodles Gaming
According to data from The Block, 77 percent of weekly NFT sales were in Gaming tokens in August. This trend away from art based NFT’s to functional characters and land able to be utilised in games, is a key focus of Doodles. Space Doodles, the gaming branch of the business, will try to make it easier for people to join up. Users will be able to purchase characters and animations with credit cards instead of having to use cryptocurrency, according to the firm.
Famous Collectors of Doodles
Famous collectors include DJ Steve Aoki, Justin Bieber, Snoop Dog and Gary Vee.