FanCraze, the developer of a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace trading official cricket collectibles, is raising around $100 million in Series A funding, according to a Bloomberg report Friday, which cited people with knowledge of the matter.
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B Capital Group and Insight Partners are leading the round, with participation from South Korea’s Mirae Asset, according to the sources. International soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is also said to be one of the investors.
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FanCraze secured a partnership with international cricket governing body the International Cricket Council (ICC) last November to launch a cricket NFT marketplace.
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That coincided with FanCraze, named “Faze” at the time, raising $17.4 million in a seed funding round that was led by Tiger Global Management.
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CEO Anshum Bhambri said at the time that the firm’s goal is to “build the metaverse of cricket.”
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The platform is built on Flow, the same blockchain that hosts NBA Top Shot, the digital collectibles platform that won widespread popularity last year.
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A similar platform for cricket could have similar success because of the huge number of fans that the sport boasts globally, thanks in part to it being the undisputed most popular sport in India, the world’s second most populous country.
