Artnome’s NFT project bags $3 million seed raise

ClubNFT, an NFT infrastructure project set up by the pseudonymous collector and commentator Artnome, has secured $3 million in seed funding, according to a press release. Today also marks the startup’s official launch.

Artnome, whose real name is Jason Bailey, has been writing about blockchain art since 2017 and claims to have been the first collector on SuperRare, the NFT marketplace.

ClubNFT wants to arm collectors with tools to discover, protect and share their NFTs. Its first product will allow users to download the media linked to their NFTs.

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At present, while ownership of NFTs can be verified by blockchains such as Ethereum, the images associated with those transactions are liable to go up in smoke if the website that originally produced and hosts them closes.  

“As a first step, we want to solve a major problem: collectors are at the mercy of third parties in backing up their NFT media,” said Bailey, ClubNFT’s CEO. “So, we are providing a free, automated way for collectors to download the media associated with all their NFTs in a single click to ensure that their NFT investments are safe.” 

Galaxy Digital and Galaxy Interactive co-led the seed round, with Red Swan Ventures, CMT Digital, Sfermion, Draper Dragon and Richard Entrup all participating.

ClubNFT’s other co-founders are former Google employee Chris King, who is CTO, and former manager of painting and sculpture at MoMa in New York Danielle King, who is the startup’s CFO and COO. 

About Author

Ryan Weeks is deals editor at the The Block, focused on fundraising, M&A and institutional trends in the crypto space, among other things. He is particularly interested in investigative work — so please send tips! Ryan previously worked at Financial News, Dow Jones as a fintech correspondent in London. Prior to that, he wrote for several different publications, including Sifted, AltFi and Wired. Beyond journalism, Ryan is a keen reader and writer. He enjoys all things active, especially running, rugby, climbing and tennis.