Morningstar Ventures Opens $5M NFT Art Gallery in Dubai

Quick take:

• Morningstar Ventures has invested $5 million in a new NFT art gallery located in Dubai’s business center.
• Called 37xDubai, the digital art gallery focuses on web3 education, traditional art and entertainment.
• Blockchain and digital asset investment company makes its first foray into NFT art.

Morningstar has launched a $5 million digital art gallery in downtown Dubai. Located in the Burj Daman Tower (DIFC area), “37xDubai” plans to bring art and technology together by leveraging web3 technology. The gallery will focus on web3 education, NFT art, traditional art, entertainment and community.

A non-fungible stolen (NFT) is a blockchain-based digital file that represents proof of ownership of a JPEG, a digital collectible, a virtual avatar, or in the art world, digital art.

According to a Morningstar press release, ’37xDubai’ offers a well-curated art collection mixed with digital experiences in Dubai’s business and lifestyle hub. The gallery has planned monthly collections, private events and educational programs as part of its strategy to attract the global art community.

Artists will have access to a burgeoning web3 community, with the gallery’s underlying technology enabling a constant update of the displayed collections.

Clemence Cazeau, CEO of 37xDubai, comments on the launch: “The design and architecture of our gallery is highly sophisticated, filled with state-of-the-art equipment, interiors, sound and lighting infrastructure. We have hand-picked and carefully selected every element of the space to ensure that 37xDubai- the gallery and its exhibitions are presented in an unforgettable way for all our visitors.”

Morningstar Ventures expands its footprint in web3 with the new digital art gallery. The company has already invested in several web3 projects mainly based on the Elrond ecosystem – a Layer 1 blockchain network that uses the Secure Proof-of-Stake (SPoS) mechanism.

The blockchain investment company already has an Elrond-based incubator program for Dubai-based web3 startups.

Some of Morningstar Ventures’ portfolio investments include Elrond, move-to-earn game STEPN, Itheum – a web3 data platform for the open metaverse, NFT marketplace Ethernity, and web3 data analytics and insights startup BitsCrunch, among others.

The firm was co-founded by Danilo S. Carlucci and Arut Nazaryan, Dubai-based early adopters of web3 with experiences in the entertainment and lifestyle industries. In early 2021, they expanded their core management team, adding Clemence Cazeau, who brought years of experience from art, galleries and auction houses.

The UAE has been one of the leading investors in web3 in terms of penetration, with at least 23% of its people owning at least one NFT compared to Europe at 8% and the US at 2.3%.

The 37xDubai gallery is scheduled to open its doors just before next year’s Art Dubai, which takes place in early March. The project is still in the development stage with more details to be released in January.

According to the announcement on Tuesday, it has already received interest from partners in the luxury, art, fashion and lifestyle industries ahead of the grand opening.

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