Former Lyft executive joins NFT marketplace OpenSea as CFO

Brian Roberts, the former chief financial officer (CFO) at ride-sharing startup Lyft, has joined OpenSea as CFO.

According to Bloomberg on Monday, Roberts expressed optimism in OpenSea’s prospects — likening the company’s potential to that of eBay in the mid-90s.

OpenSea, the largest non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace according to TheBlock’s Data Dashboard, has recently fielded investment offers from several potential backers at a $10 billion valuation.

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The proposed investment round could see the company raise around $1 billion from interested backers.

Commenting on the possibility of raising more capital, Roberts stated that the company could use the funds to pursue useful partnerships and joint ventures. According to Roberts, OpenSea’s growing profitability could put a possible public listing on the agenda.

“When you have a company growing as fast as this one, you’d be foolish not to think about it going public. It  would be well-received in the public market given its growth,” Roberts told Bloomberg.

The platform became the first NFT marketplace to surpass $1 billion in monthly trading volume back in August on the back of surging interest in digital collectibles.

About Author

Osato is a news reporter at The Block as part of the crypto ecosystems team that focuses on DAO governance, staking, blockchain layers, and DeFi. He was previously a news reporter at Cointelegraph. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, he enjoys crosswords, poker, and attempting to beat his Scrabble high score. Follow him on Twitter at @OsatoNomayo.