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- FanCraze raised US$17.4m in seed round last year
- Other investors include Dapper Labs
- First ICC Crictos launched earlier in 2022
Sports blockchain technology firm FanCraze has reportedly raised US$100 million in a series A funding round that included the participation of Manchester United and Portugal soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo.
Bloomberg says the round also included venture capital firms B Capital Group and Insight Partners. It follows a US$17.4 million seed round last year that involved NBA Top Shot creator Dapper Labs.
The round is yet to be confirmed but an official announcement could be made in the coming weeks and the funds will be used to fund the company’s expansion and to build out its vision of a cricketing metaverse.
FanCraze was founded last year and secured the exclusive rights to create NFTs based on International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments.
The first NFTs, known as ‘Crictos’, were launched in January and feature video clips from the last two editions of the men’s ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015 and 2019. Users can buy a pack comprising several clips, or they purchase individual clips on FanCraze’s peer-to-peer marketplace.
An additional collection of Crictos was released earlier this month to coincide with the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand and are based on some of the most memorable moments from the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2020 and 50-over 2017 Women’s World Cup.
FanCraze has a separate deal with Cricket West Indies (CWI) to create Crictos and other metaverse-based products focused on the men’s team, whose shirt has also featured FanCraze branding during the ongoing Test series with England.
