Unblocked adds $10M to leverage NFTs to connect fan communities for Primary Wave, Billboard, Rolling Stone, more
Unblocked, also known as The Non Fungible Token Company (NFTCo) has finalized a $10 million seed round from an impressive cadre of music industry and tech investors to leverage NFTs to connect fan communities both online and irl.
The initial Unblocked NFT launch was a partnership with Primary Wave Music and Cypress Hill. Upcoming drops include the Penske Media family, which includes Rolling Stone, Variety and Billboard, Evite, and some unnamed significant artists and musicians.
“We’ve only seen the beginning of the potential of NFTs, which have already shown explosive popularity among investors and collectors. Unblocked’s team and its community-focused vision puts the business in an excellent position to take NFTs to the next level, which is utility to the mass market,” said Brian Laibow, Managing Director and Co-Head of North America for Oaktree’s Global Opportunities Strategy.
“We had been searching for a partner to build our NFT project with, and once we met with Unblocked, it was clear that we had found a match. After hearing their vision for Web3 and learning more about their backgrounds, we knew they were the right partner,” said Julian Holguin, president of Billboard. “We can’t wait to roll out experiences that fully leverage our brand to foster authentic community and engagement. We’re excited to show everyone what we’ve been working on!”
Impressive Investor List
This $10 million round follows a $5 million round just 6 months ago and values the company at $90 million.
Investors include Tiger Global, Penske Media Corp. (which owns media properties including Billboard, Rolling Stone and SXSW), Electric Feel Entertainment (whose management clients include Post Malone and Lil Baby), Primary Wave Music, Dapper Labs, Oaktree Capital Management, Marcy Venture Partners (Larry Marcus, Jay Brown, Jay-Z), BAM Ventures, B Capital, M13, Defy VC, GFT Ventures, Crosscut Ventures, 21 Shares, and Sandbox Studios. Individual investors include Shawn Mendes, Roham Gharegozlou (founder, Dapper Labs), George Ruan (founder, Honey), Farhad Mohit (founder, Flipagram, Shopzilla), Brian Thomas (founder, Clutter) and Andrew Gertler (music manager).
Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.
