BOGOTÁ, Colombia–( BUSINESS WIRE )–29 September 2022–
Minteo, a Latin American-based NFT marketplace with a mission to introduce Web3 to the region, today announced the close of its $4.3 million seed round. Investors participating in the round include Fabric Ventures, Dune Ventures, CMT Digital, OpenSea Ventures, Impatient VC, Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, SevenX Ventures, FJ Labs, Big Brain Holdings, G20 Ventures, Zero Knowledge, Alliance DAO, AngelDAO and several prominent angel investors .
Founded by an experienced team with a strong track record in the technology space and extensive experience in creating digital marketplaces, Minteo will enable Latin American-based artists, creators, collectors, gamers, brands and other community members to buy, sell and trade digital art. collectibles, phygitals and other digital assets to a global market. Minteo aims to bring the $25B NFT market (DappRadar) to Latin America – a region that has yet to experience widespread NFT adoption despite its robust creator economy and bullishness towards the digital asset ecosystem – through its unique, user-friendly platform that have local payment methods.
Minteo’s leadership includes Santiago Rodriguez and Javier Lozano, CEO and CTO respectively, who co-founded Wompi, a leading payment processor sold to Bancolombia in 2021. They are joined by William Duran and Sebastian Salazar, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operating Officer, who each have over a decade of experience leading go-to-market operations for fast-growing B2B and B2C companies across the US and Latin America, including EasyTaxi, a leading taxi app that was acquired by Cabify.
According to Santiago Rodriguez, co-founder and CEO, Minteo wants to integrate millions of users to web3 via NFTs and believes they can have more mainstream and faster adoption than fungible tokens.
“Latin Americans love art, music, dance and socializing. This is ingrained in our community,” Rodriguez said. “Through Minteo’s NFT platform, Latin Americans will now be able to celebrate these incredible aspects of our culture. We truly believe the region is poised for increased Web3 adoption, and the net effect it will have for many creators and communities will be life-changing.”
Latin America is considered by many experts to have the most robust creative economy on the planet, with buyers placing enormous trust in creators and influencers. Mexico, Colombia and Brazil are among the top 5 countries where people trust creators the most along with China and India. In fact, 1 in 3 internet users in the region follow an influencer, and in Brazil over 40% of people report having bought a product because a creator recommended it.
“There is significant demand from the Latin American community for an NFT marketplace that fits local creator needs and integrates local payment methods. To boost NFT adoption in the region, we need to leapfrog fungible tokens by offering integrated fiat ramps,” says Javier Lozano , co-founder and chief technology officer at Minteo. “Minteo’s focus on truly empowering creators, collectors and other users – combined with its simple, easy-to-navigate interface – will lower the entry barrier for Latin Americans to NFTs and move us closer to a future of frictionless, true digital ownership on a global scale.”
“We believe Minteo is on an exciting growth trajectory, led by a strong leadership team of highly experienced operators and visionaries and a unique strategy to bring Web3 to a Latin American community eager to gain Web3 exposure,” said Sam Hallene, investor at CMT Digital. “We are excited to support the Minteo team as they deliver a much-needed product to the fast-growing Latin American marketplace.”
“As NFT offerings are verticalized and regionalized, Minteo has a great opportunity to become the leading marketplace in LATAM, and potentially beyond,” said Imran Khan, Partner at Alliance DAO, a leading Web3 accelerator and Minteo’s first investor. “In 6 months, this team has gone from an idea on a laptop to closing a seed round in a difficult market and building a complex product. I’m excited to see what they can build over the next couple of years – and it’s also proof that our work accelerates early-stage companies.”
About Minteo
Minteo, Inc. is an NFT marketplace focused on introducing Latin American consumers and businesses to Web3. Backed by top Web3 investors, Minteo offers a user-friendly mobile app that makes buying, selling and trading digital assets easy by offering a built-in self-sufficient wallet, the ability to pay with local payment methods and a local content marketplace.
See the source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220929005294/en/
CONTACT: William Duran
KEYWORDS: LATIN AMERICA NORTH AMERICA USA SOUTH AMERICA COLOMBIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: SOFTWARE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TERMS PAYMENTS APPS/APPLICATIONS TECHNOLOGY DIGITAL CASH MANAGEMENT/DIGITAL ASSETS CRYPTOCURRENCY CROWDFUNDING NFT WEB3 FINANCE
SOURCE: Minteo, Inc.
Copyright Business Wire 2022.
PUB: 29/09/2022 11:00/DISC: 29/09/2022 11:03
