Solana project Metaplex Foundation raises $46 million in SAFT sale

Metaplex Foundation, the developer of the Solana-based NFT protocol Metaplex, has raised $46 million in a funding round.

Multicoin Capital and Jump Crypto co-led the round, with Solana Ventures, Alameda Research, and Animoca Brands participating.

The round also saw particularly high interest from former and current professional basketball players, including Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Joel Embiid, Kevin Love, and Obadiah Toppin. In all, more than 90 individual investors joined the round, including American rapper Snoop Dogg.

THE SCOOP

Keep up with the latest news, trends, charts and views on crypto and DeFi with a new biweekly newsletter from The Block's Frank Chaparro

By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

This was Metaplex Foundation's first fundraise and realized via a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) sale, its director Stephen Hess told The Block. The foundation will launch its own native governance token called META in the near future, said Hess.

With fresh capital in hand, Metaplex Foundation plans to support projects that are creating new developer tools based on the Metaplex protocol. The Metaplex protocol helps users build their own NFT marketplaces on the Solana blockchain.

The Metaplex protocol was launched in June 2021 and claims to have helped create over 5 million Solana-based NFTs for 85,000 projects so far. Some of these projects include the Degenerate Ape Academy, Nyan Heroes, Cryptokickers, and Solana Monkey Business.

Compared to Ethereum, Solana helps to mint and buy NFTs at a cheaper cost due to its lower transaction fees.

About Author

Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.