Andreessen Horowitz puts real money on NFTs

Future. VC firm Andreessen Horowitz led a huge $100 million funding round for leading NFT platform OpenSea, giving the company the resources to expand. Why would the firm pour even more money into the space after already spending so much this year? It may be because it sees NFTs not as collectible items in-and-of themselves, but as access keys to the greater creator economy.

Set sail on OpenSea
After launching a $2.2 billion crypto-investment fund this past June, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is doubling down specifically on non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

• a16z led a $100 million funding round for NFT marketplace OpenSea, giving the company a valuation of $1.5 billion.
• The VC firm previously led a $23 million Series A funding round for the company this past March.
• OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer said that the company will use the fresh round of funding to expand the platform and hire more employees.

OpenSea, which takes a 2.5% fee on all NFT transactions, oversaw $160 million in sales in June alone and has seen 45x growth during the first half of 2021.

Digital distribution
Even though NFTs are constantly fluctuating in value, a16z will eventually settle in more predictable rhythms and act as an important utility for the future of the internet. Specifically, NFTs could act as “distribution vehicles” for all sorts of digital content (just look at what Mila Kunis did with the animated show Stoner Cats).

a16z’s Chris Dixon wrote in a blog post that the true value of NFTs is that they allow “users [to] feel like owners—they have skin in the game. […] It’s true peer-to-peer marketing, fueled by community, excitement, and ownership.”