NFT unicorn OpenSea sets sights on improving customer experience with $100 million war chest

Episode 50 of Season 3 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Devin Finzer, co-founder & CEO at OpenSea.

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OpenSea's Devin Finzer is just as surprised as anyone to see non-fungible tokens (NFTs) taking off this summer.

“None of us expected to hit a billion in transaction volume this month,” said Finzer, describing what he views as "the biggest economy in the history of the internet."

During this episode of The Scoop, OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer joined host Frank Chaparro for a discussion on NFT’s, the metaverse, and OpenSea’s most recent completed fundraise.

OpenSea recently raised $100 million from VC majors such as A16z as well as angel investors like Michael Ovitz and Ashton Kutcher, setting the NFT marketplace valuation at a $1.5 billion value.

The company's focus on building a marketplace appeared to bear fruit based on the NFT volume in August for OpenSea. 

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With fresh capital in hand, OpenSea is planning on retooling its systems to make it easier for the public to gain access to the marketplace.

Finzer spoke with The Scoop about how OpenSea is improving gateways for the public to purchase NFT’s with a credit card and how the team is working with partners to lower fees for minting, selling and buying. He also touched on how this also includes expanding their blockchain partnerships with layer-1 and layer-2 scaling solutions, such as their recent Polygon integration. 

Finzer further discussed the Metaverse application of NFT’s as brands begin to buy into virtual worlds, such as Decentraland, in what the startup believes will become the stage for this new economy.

“Long term we think NFT’s will be used for all sorts of creative things, across gaming, art collectibles, event tickets, real world items," said Finzer.


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].