NBA Top Shot has taken over the NFT world and is a hot topic among collectors right now and on Tuesday, they received some backing from the GOAT.
Michael Jordan is among the new investors as part of a firm that backed Dapper, which created NBA Top Shot, with a new $305M in funding. The group also includes Kevin Durant, Shawn Mendes, 2 Chainz and 30-plus more athletes. The new funding places Dapper’s current valuation at $2.6 billion per the USA TODAY.
Check out the full list of investors:
The company received support from NBA legend Michael Jordan as well as current players and funds including Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, Kyle Lowry, Spencer Dinwiddie, Andre Drummond, Alex Caruso, Michael Carter-Williams, Josh Hart, Udonis Haslem, JaVale McGee, Khris Middleton, Domantas Sabonis, Klay Thompson, Nikola Vucevic, Thad Young, and Richard Seymour’s 93 Ventures, as well as entertainment and music heavyweights including Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures, Will Smith and Keisuke Honda’s Dreamers VC, Shawn Mendes and Andrew Gertler’s AG Ventures, Shay Mitchell, and 2 Chainz. Other strategics participating include a16z, The Chernin Group, USV, Version One, and Venrock.
Additional investors in the round include: [Major League Baseball] players Tim Beckham and Nolan Arenado; [National Football League] players Ken Crawley, Thomas Davis, Stefon Diggs, Dee Ford, Malcom Jenkins, Rodney McLeod, Jordan Matthew, Devin McCourty, Jason McCourty, DK Metcalf, Tyrod Taylor and Trent Williams; team ownership including Vivek Ranadive (Kings), and notable sports investors Bolt Ventures.
This is significant for a few different reasons.
NBA Top Shot continues to have a hot market among collectors with its digital highlights that they place in packs for users to buy. But not only does it pick up some more steam, but now the potential of Michael Jordan moments is also possible.
Jordan and other NBA legends are not yet featured in Top Shot and there’s nothing concrete to show that they will appear in the future. Getting Jordan into Top Shot features some hurdles including his license agreement, but this might be a first step.
In addition to the NBA, Dapper is also pursuing other properties to add including the UFC.
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