Reddit’s Ohanian leads $54 million Doodle’s capital raising
Doodles expands into music and gaming NFTs with new capital raised from Alexis Ohanian’s 776.
Amid generally gloomy conditions in the non-fungible token (NFT) market, colorful profile picture maker Doodles raised $54 million in equity funding today, backed by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six. Acrew Capital, FTX Ventures and 10T Holdings also participated in the fundraising.
Doodles, who started embossing their pastel NFTs less than a year ago, have created one of the largest profile picture collections on the internet. The collection of 10,000 images has a combined value of about $121 million, according to NFTPriceFloor. Bored Ape Yacht Club, the leading NFT series, has a market cap of $1.27 billion.
The Doodles collection is based on 100 visual features that were mixed and matched in different combinations to produce unique works – no two are alike. While they can be purchased for as little as 6.9 eth ($12,183), some have sold for as much as 296.69 eth (about $1.1 million at the time of sale) due to their rarity.
The rarest examples have gold coloring, with #6914 the most expensive doodle ever sold, with unique monkey features.
The company plans to use the proceeds from the capital inflow, which it says will bring its valuation to $704 million, to expand in music and games, NFT sectors that are attracting growing interest
Overall NFT prices and trading have fallen in recent months. After peaking at nearly $3.5 billion in transactions in May, only $191 million was traded during August, according to data from The Block.
Doodles, however, have been swimming against the tide. While the pool’s transaction volume is still down 6.41% over the past 30 days, large NFT pools have been hit much harder. Bored Ape Yacht Club is down 40% while CryptoPunks, the second largest NFT collection by market capitalization ($1.09 billion), is down a staggering 77%. A combination of the bear market and a shift away from risk investing has led to the decline in NFT transactions.
Katelin Holloway, 776 founder and board member of Doodles, was introduced to Doodles by Ohanian, an early collector of Doodles. But that was after meeting the Doodles team at SXSW
Doodles CEO Julian Hoguin says Doodles wants to draw on Holloway’s experience as an HR manager to expand both internally and externally.
“As we scale and scale quickly,” adds Hoguin, “having her as a sounding board and as a true partner will be invaluable, because we want to build on culture, we want to evoke joy and creativity.” Doodles has demonstrated a strong history of community integration since its initial inception in October. Management made the controversial decision to close the collection’s Discord channel to 1,000 participants when it first launched, a move that might have been expected to alienate potential collectors. But the act had the opposite effect, generating hype in the thriving NFT community that boosted the artwork’s popularity. Now the collection pays tribute to big name collectors, including DJ Steve Aoki, Justin Bieber and entrepreneur Gary Vee.
Since then, the team has continued to work with the collectors, allowing Doodles owners to commercialize their NFTs for up to $100,000 before you require a license agreement, and even employ owners and creators of derivative works of art as illustrators.
“We’re very interested in actually developing opportunities for other people to use their characters in their own commercial efforts,” says Hoguin. – It just has to be checked.
Doodles brought in singer Pharrell Williams as chief brand officer in June, opening the doors to various applications of blockchain technology. Music NFT, Holguin says, is a way to introduce people to Web3, the nascent idea of a new, decentralized internet model based on blockchains.
“We want to create products for our core collector base, but at the same time use these great forms of marketing like music, to introduce new people to Web3 and onboard them into the Doodles ecosystem,” he adds.
Doodles’ music NFT project will be released in collaboration with Columbia Records over the next six months. The company wouldn’t provide details, other than to say it involved a song that would get radio play and streaming exposure, but has “an underlying customization experience” for NFT holders.
NFTs used in games, Doodles’ other focus area, have grown to become the most traded type, surpassing the art and collectibles hype train in 2021. Gaming tokens accounted for 77% of weekly NFT sales in August, according to data from The block.
Space Doodles, the company’s gaming arm, will look to make it easier to enter the Doodles ecosystem. The company says it will allow users to purchase characters and animations with credit cards, instead of requiring crypto.
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This article was updated on 13 September to spell out the company’s name in the first paragraph.
