Coinbase Ventures is an investment arm of Coinbase that aims to invest in seed-stage cryptocurrency and blockchain startups. The company was founded in 2018 and is based in San Francisco, California, United States.

Coinbase Ventures

Alameda Research is a quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm that provides liquidity in cryptocurrency and digital assets markets. It was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Central and Western, Hong Kong.

Alameda Research

Greylock Partners invests in entrepreneurs that focus on consumer and enterprise software companies. The firm invests in companies that define new markets, including Airbnb, AppDynamics, Apptio, Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET), Cloudera, Docker, Dropbox, Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD), Medium, Nextdoor, Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW), Pandora (NYSE: P), Pure Storage, and Workday (NYSE: WDAY). It was founded in 1965 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

Greylock

Electric Capital is a crypto asset management firm. The company invests in tokens that are Programmable Money and invest in both liquid and illiquid tokens that are emerging stores of value and rooted in novel technology. Electric Capital is started by technology entrepreneurs, engineers, and successful investors. Prior to Electric Capital, they started six companies (five acquired), invested in 100+ technology startups with a cumulative market cap in the tens of billions, and served as executives at technology companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. They have been investing personally in cryptocurrencies since 2013 and were early believers in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Monero. Prior to Electric

Electric Capital

Sequoia is a venture capital focused on energy, financial, enterprise, healthcare, internet, and mobile startups. The firm helps a small number of daring founders build legendary companies. It spurs them to push the boundaries of what’s possible. The firm seeks to invest in all sectors with a focus on energy, financials and financial services, healthcare and healthcare services, Internet, mobile, outsourcing, and technology.

Sequoia Capital

Lightspeed Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that engages in consumer, enterprise, technology, and cleantech markets. It focuses on seed, early-stage, later-stage, expansion-stage, start-ups, growth companies, and incubation, and specializes in debt financing for start-ups and growth companies. Lightspeed Venture Partners invests in various sectors that include enterprise, consumer, big data, bitcoin, enterprise technology, cleantech, mobile, internet, financial technology, cloud solutions, e-commerce, storage, media, networking, energy, and software, software-as-a-service, information technology, biotechnology, and social. It mainly invests in countries such as the United States, Europe, Israel, China, and India.

Lightspeed Venture Partners

Goodwater empowers exceptional entrepreneurs everywhere to change the world for the better. They believe consumer technology is a force on earth, shaping culture and transforming the global economy at unprecedented speed and scale. They invest in promising entrepreneurs to solve pressing problems. As a combined force, Goodwater companies are a global force for change, poised to measurably improve billions of lives.

Goodwater Capital

Paradigm is a research-driven crypto investment firm that funds companies and protocols from their earliest stages, often when there’s no more than an idea. We were founded in 2018 by Matt Huang and Fred Ehrsam on the belief that crypto is driving one of the most important technical and economic shifts of our time, as money, a financial system, and a new internet platform. We’re builders, not just investors. Many of us have worked on tools, protocols, and companies that are now some of the most used in crypto. We build software, much of it open source, that aims to advance the frontier of crypto for everyone. Research is at the core of everything we do. We believe depth is a prerequisite for invention, and that real progress happens at the frontier, not in the boardroom or the ivory tower. We are as likely to collaborate on a research paper or ship code as we are to advise on product or business strategy. If you’re building something ambitious at the frontier, come build with us.

Paradigm

6th Man Ventures is an early stage crypto VC firm investing in web3 applications & infrastructure 6MV was born from a love of web3 in practice and principle, founded and run by a group who both see the potential and actively work to bring projects to life every day. That makes us incredible partners to have on your journey. 6th Man Ventures was established in March 2021 in New York, United States.

6th Man Ventures

Investors and leaders enabling the next evolution of our largest asset classes - real estate + AI/ML Infra.

Fortified Ventures

Solana Ventures' mission is to accelerate the growth of the Solana blockchain and adjacent ecosystems by providing capital to the most promising teams building in the crypto ecosystem.

Solana Ventures

Magic Eden

BoomLand is a blockchain gaming platform that gives a revolutionary gaming experience. It aims to create a sustainable ecosystem where global players are free to play, earn and live by unlocking the value of their in-game assets and Metaverse tokens. BoomLand was founded n 2021.

Aether Games are the creative talent behind both of the widely expected NFT-based game titles: Gates of Ethernity and Cards of Ethernity. In addition, the studio's creative efforts are up to be represented by the CGI mini-series ''Aether'' and many more.

Storygrounds is the only platform where people of any skill level can build Webcomics together.

Intella X is a blockchain web3 gaming platform that provides  applications and support for developers and end users to build a community-driven and self-sustaining Web3 gaming ecosystem.

Epic League is a company specializing in Online RPG and blockchain ecosystem.

Dust Labs is building software that helps NFT communities bring more value to their holders.

Panzerdogs is a Solana NFT gaming project in which players can own and use all of their in-game assets in P2E and P2P battles. The game is designed to be played in mobile and desktop browsers.

WAGMI Ltd. operates as a game development studio.

Magic Eden is a community-centric company. They work hard to be responsive, close to the ground, and in service to the best interests of their collections. To prove their commitment to the community, they airdropped Magic Tickets, their own collection, to over 30,000 users. Holding a Magic Ticket gives holders access to their discord-based DAO, MagicDAO, where they deliver interconnectivity via social programs and rewards to the community.

<div>Magic Eden claims to be the largest NFT marketplace on Solana, with over 7.5 million transactions recorded as of March 2022. The company also added support for Ethereum-based NFTs in August 2022. Magic Eden&rsquo;s offering includes a launchpad for creator NFT projects and a white-label NFT marketplace product. As of June 2022, the platform had over 10 million unique monthly visitors, 7,000+ NFT collections, 100,000+ daily wallet collections, and exceeded USD 1.8 billion in secondary trading volume.</div>

Giving creators the power of content monetization and audience engagement.

Creator Economy

Magic Eden adds support for BeraChain and ApeChain, sets sights on Monad

BoomLand

Polygon

Hyperithm

Game7

Aether Games

Eclipse Ventures

EMURGO

ULTRA

Polkastarter

MV Global

Almora Capital

Mysten Labs

Cogitent Ventures

Storygrounds

Makers Fund

Fabric Ventures

Shima Capital

Intella X

Animoca Brands

XLGAMES

Pearl Abyss Capital

Global Coin Research

JoyCity

WEMIX

Big Brain Holdings

Planetarium

CRIT Ventures

Epic League

Griffin Gaming Partners

Neowiz

Netmarble

double jump.tokyo

Mirana

Orbit Chain

Polygon Ventures

Dust Labs

Foundation Capital

Felicis

Chapter One Ventures

Hyperspace Capital

Unlock Venture Partners

Jupiter

FTX Ventures

Panzerdogs

Com2uS

Hustle Fund

Zee Prime Capital

SolBigBrain

WAGMI Ltd.

CRIT

<div>
 
 Magic Eden claims to be the largest NFT marketplace on Solana, with over 7.5 million transactions recorded as of March 2022. The company also added support for Ethereum-based NFTs in August 2022. Magic Eden&rsquo;s offering includes a launchpad for creator NFT projects and a white-label NFT marketplace product. As of June 2022, the platform had over 10 million unique monthly visitors, 7,000+ NFT collections, 100,000+ daily wallet collections, and exceeded USD 1.8 billion in secondary trading volume.
 
 
 The company announced (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9147">
 March 2022
 </a>
 ) the launch of Eden Games, a content hub for game publishers. Eden Games was to feature dedicated gaming listing pages and host competitions and tournaments on the platform via its Discord. In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17216">
 March 2023
 </a>
 , Magic Eden announced the launch of a bitcoin marketplace on its NFT marketplace to help expand its reach. In November 2023, the firm announced the beta launch of its 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24377">
 cross-chain wallet,
 </a>
 which aims to simplify transactions involving NFTs across several blockchain networks. Additionally, in January 2024, the firm launched an 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25826">
 incentive program
 </a>
 for its users and creators.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships 
 
 
 In November 2023, the firm partnered with 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23496">
 Yuga Labs,
 </a>
 the creator of popular NFT projects, including Bored Apes Yacht Club and CryptoPunks, to establish a new Ethereum (ETH) marketplace. In February 2024, Magic Eden partnered with 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26356">
 Pudgy Penguins,
 </a>
 an NFT creator, to enhance the creative and collecting experience, as well as 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26411">
 Azuki,
 </a>
 a decentralized social token platform, to expand opportunities for NFT artists and collectors and build a stronger Solana NFT community.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In its latest funding round (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11249">
 June 2022
 </a>
 ), Magic Eden raised USD 130 million in Series B funding co-led by Electric Capital and Greylock Partners.&nbsp; The round brought Magic Eden&rsquo;s valuation to USD 1.6 billion and followed its USD 27 million Series A funding round in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9147">
 March 2022
 </a>
 . The fresh funds were raised to expand its marketplace and products, and explore a multichain strategy beyond the Solana blockchain.
 
</div>

<div>
 
 Patreon provides a platform for creators to offer numerous types of content (videos, text, podcasts, images, etc.) for which fans can subscribe to a monthly membership without any ads or algorithms. Patrons (Patreon subscribers) can pay monthly or per post for content access, in addition to the pay-what-you-want option. Creators are paid monthly or for every new post uploaded. They can offer rewards for different tiers, including meeting patrons or custom work upon the patron&rsquo;s request. Creators are offered three packages: Lite, Pro, and Premium. Lite offers basic creator tools for a membership business with no tiers for fans; Pro offers additional tools and perks (e.g., workshops) with unlimited membership tiers; Premium caters to established companies with a large following, earning a monthly income of USD 5,000 or more, offering Pro services in addition to advanced features and Dedicated Partner Manager services. Creators can start for free and are charged a monthly commission based on their plan when they start earning: 5% (Lite), 8% (Pro), and 12% (Premium), as well as payment processing fees. 
 
 
 The company revealed in November 2021 that it is building a video hosting platform with a native player to eliminate the reliance of third-party video hosting platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo for creators to share video content with their patrons.
 
 
 Memberful, a Patreon-owned membership software platform for independent creators, launched a newsletter feature in October 2021, allowing creators to send news emails to their subscribers. In the future, creators will be able to make posts publicly viewable and schedule and send targeted emails to specific groups of subscribers. Notably, Memberful&rsquo;s paid plans (charged monthly) retain 4.9% of creator revenue, while competitor Substack retains 10%.
 
 
 Patreon acquired tech recruiting firm, Clear Talent, in August 2021 to scale up talent and build its engineering, product, and design team. The company seeks to accelerate the introduction of new features and platform capabilities and double the total monthly revenue its creators earn to around USD 200 million. In October 2023, the firm 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22877">
 acquired Moment,
 </a>
 a digital events platform, to strengthen event management solutions for creators.
 
 
 Key 
 customers
 and partnerships
 
 
 As of August 2022, Patreon had more than 250,000 creators, over 8.5 million active subscribers, and had paid out more than USD 3.5 billion to creators. 
 
 
 In June 2021, Patreon partnered with shesaid.so, an international community of women and gender minorities, to co-present the Alternative Power 100 Music List 2021 (#AltList) with the theme &ldquo;The New Creative Economy.&rdquo; Patreon and shesaid.so aim to make the music industry more inclusive and will co-host a series of virtual and physical events (including panel discussions and creator networking). The company has also partnered with third-party services, including Vimeo (to host videos) and Discord (for community chats).
 
 
 Funding
 
 and
 financials
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s most recent funding round was a Series F round worth USD 155 million in April 2021, led by new investor Tiger Global Management. This round triples Patreon&rsquo;s valuation to USD 4 billion. The funds are to be used to further develop its platform for mobile and desktop, increase content consumption tools, and accelerate its international footprint.
 
 
 The total cumulative payouts to creators via the platform surpassed USD 2 billion as of September 2020, and the company expects annual payouts to pass USD 1 billion in 2021. 
 
</div>

Patreon

<div>
 
 Substack offers a publishing platform that encompasses design, analytics, and payment infrastructure to assist newsletter subscriptions. The platform enables writers to focus on content creation and monetization via subscriptions. Writers can build their own paid newsletter subscription businesses and may choose to start with free newsletters for lead generation. Newsletters can be published to the web in addition to individual email addresses and its mobile app.&nbsp; The platform has a dedicated discovery section ranking the top newsletters, which are then promoted based on &ldquo;internet points&rdquo;. The platform supports podcasting by allowing writers to embed MP3s into their newsletters.
 
 
 The company launched multiple product improvements over the years, including video creation and editing features (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24569">
 November 2023,
 </a>
 the capacity to publish video podcasts, create interactive AI-generated transcripts, and customize shareable video clips
 ), AI-powered audio transcription tools (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21412">
 August 2023,
 </a>
 featuring transcript generation and audiogram creation capabilities), Private Substacks (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15987">
 January 2023,
 </a>
 where readers can request to subscribe to read users posts) Substack Grow (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4243">
 August 2021
 </a>
 , to help writers add paying subscribers in), Substack Local (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/3163">
 April 2021
 </a>
 , an initiative to support the local news ecosystem), Substack Pro (to offer advance payments for certain writers), Substack Defender (July 2020, to offer legal support to writers in).&nbsp;&nbsp;
 
 
 Writers have to bring in their own readers, and once they start earning (at a minimum of USD 3 per month), a commission of 10% (plus the Stripe payment processing fee) will be charged on the writer&rsquo;s income. Additionally, Substack stated that it has no plans to include advertisements as an additional revenue stream within the platform. By July 2021, the company reported its top 10 publishers bring in more than USD 20 million per year in combined subscription revenue. Moreover, the company has attracted famous journalists such as Andrew Sullivan, Casey Newton, and Edith Zimmerman. Substack had more than 500,000 paid subscribers as of March 2021.&nbsp;
 
 
 Other notable events include the acquisition of subscription-based social networking app Cocoon in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5113">
 August 2021
 </a>
 , the acquisition of Australian public correspondence startup Letter in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4601">
 July 2021
 </a>
 and the funding of podcast network Booksmart Studio&rsquo;s launch in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4390">
 July 2021
 </a>
 .
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s most recent funding round was Series B funding worth USD 65 million in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/3156">
 March 2021
 </a>
 . The round was led by return investor Andreessen Horowitz, valuing Substack at approximately USD 650 million. The funds are to be utilized to rapidly expand the Substack Pro program alongside the implementation of other features.&nbsp;
 
 
 Substack reported a net loss of USD 22.9 million in 2021, having grown from a net loss of USD 2.3 million in 2020.
 
</div>

Substack

<div>
 
 Cameo offers a platform where creators, such as influencers, celebrities, athletes, artists, and musicians, can provide personalized videos and shout-outs to fans as per their request, charging for each video from USD 5 to as high as USD 2,500. Creators who have a minimum of 20,000 Instagram followers are automatically admitted onto the platform, where they set their own price and can choose to accept a fan request or not within seven days. The creator must fulfill the request within a week, which the fan can download and share. Additionally, Cameo provides a messaging option for less expensive creator/fan interactions. Cameo takes a 25% commission on each transaction on the platform.
 
 
 As of September 2020, Cameo had more than 30,000 creators across multiple industries. Cameo reported that it generated around USD 100 million in video transactions in 2020, with more than 2 million video messages being shared on its platform since launch, of which 80% were gifts for others. Furthermore, the company reported its creators and fans are based in 138 and 178 countries, respectively, with almost 20% of Cameos being purchased from outside of the US as of March 2021. For example, Cameo entered into a commercial partnership (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8576">
 February 2022
 </a>
 ) with Softbank, an existing investor of Cameo, to add more Japanese creators and expand its platform in Japan as a culturally fluent localized version.
 
 
 Cameo acquired marketing and merch company Represent (October 2021) whose clients include Jennifer Lopez, Ed Sheeran, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matthew McConaughey, among others. The acquiring company will onboard the Represent team as well as Represent&rsquo;s existing client relationships. In the near term, Cameo plans to allow fans to purchase &ldquo;gift bundles&rdquo; that pair a Cameo video with related merchandise from the creator. The company hopes to introduce new forms of creator-fan engagement, establish new creator revenue opportunities, and offer non-profit organizations a new way to raise funds.
 
 
 Funding and financials 
 
 
 The company&rsquo;s most recent funding round was Series C funding worth USD 100 million in March 2021, which valued the company at over USD 1 billion, achieving unicorn status. The funds are to be utilized to enhance the Core Cameo experience and capabilities, create new creator-fan engagement products (including Fan Clubs and Cameo Calls), and develop Cameo's B2B business. The company also plans to continue its international expansion.
 
</div>

Cameo

<div>
 
 Buttondown offers a publishing platform for writers to create and distribute newsletters on a subscription basis (price set by the writer) or for free. The platform does not charge writers until they reach 1,000 subscribers, after which they are charged a monthly fee of USD 5 per thousand subscribers. Buttondown also offers advanced features for professionals at a monthly fee of USD 29. Writers can send multiple separate newsletters from the same account, catering to different audiences by maintaining separate mailing lists.
 
 
 The platform also provides writers with user-specific analytics and insights, including features such as side-by-side comparisons of multiple emails. Buttondown has integrated with numerous third-party providers, Ghost and Medium (blogging platforms), Squarespace and Weebly (website building and hosting service providers), and web application integrator, Zapier.  As of December 2020, the company is run entirely by the CEO and founder, Justin Duke, and reported to have a monthly cost base of around USD 1,100. Furthermore, the CEO has made a commitment to donate at least 10% of profits to the software that enables it.
 
</div>

Buttondown

<div>
 
 Disciple Media, headquartered in the UK, offers bespoke community media apps for creators to privately share and own their content while having control, especially regarding monetization. Creators can use the platform to promote their brand, increase reach and engagement with fans, and monetize by charging fans a monthly subscription for access in addition to in-app purchases, sponsorship, and advertising. The company claims that the app-creating process had been reduced to 10 minutes since 2017.
 
 
 The company reported 200% revenue growth and recurring revenue growth of 160% in 2020. As of July 2021, the platform has reached over 500 global communities (up from 200 in May 2020) with 2 million members using the platform. The company claims that the growth of recurring revenue by more than 850% in 2019 was driven by monthly growth of 15% in new communities and 20% in members.
 
 
 Disciple Media raised USD 6 million in a Series A funding round in July 2021, led by previous investors including Nick Mason (Pink Floyd drummer) and Rob Pierre (founder and CEO of Jellyfish), among others. In addition to the company&rsquo;s fundraising, Eirik Svendsen&mdash;an expert in online marketplaces, SaaS, and the publishing and media industry&mdash;has come on as Chairman of the Board.
 
</div>

Disciple Media

Platforms that allow creators to share several types of content. Some platforms also offer fan engagement/ interactions with the creative artist via videos/ live streams.

Platforms that offer exclusive content to signed up members.

Platforms that allow creators to share their written works and blogs.

Platforms that provide tools to discover relevant analytics, produce content, engage with the audience, and help with the overall process.

Platforms that allow creators to share one of either videography, live streams, photos, music or audio podcasts with fan engagement capabilities.

Blockchain-based Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) allow creators to transfer ownership of their content via platforms that share proceeds with buyers, sellers, creators, and platforms via smart contracts.

Web3 enables creator monetization by providing decentralized platforms for creators to engage with their audience

NFT platforms segment uses metaverse concepts

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 NFT marketplace, Magic Eden, has introduced a new platform called Magic Eden's Runes Platform. This platform enables users to trade their assets for Bitcoin (BTC) and buy Runes and Ordinals using their Magic Eden wallets.
 The main features of Magic Eden's Runes Platform include the ability to exchange assets for BTC, purchase Runes and Ordinals, and use the swap view to specify the amount of BTC to be spent on buying Runes. The platform also supports Ethereum, Polygon, BTC, and Solana in the Magic Eden wallet.
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 Magic Eden's Runes Platform represents a strategic move by Magic Eden to expand its presence in the NFT market and strengthen its position in the BTC ecosystem. By allowing users to exchange assets for BTC and purchase Runes and Ordinals using their Magic Eden wallets, the platform not only improves the accessibility of BTC-based NFTs, but also demonstrates its focus on innovation and growth within the industry.

Magic Eden

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