Crypto podcaster Andrew Steinwold raised $100 million for anNFT fund for his firm Sfermion.- Crypto enthusiasts the
Winklevoss twins and twoAndreessen Horowitz general partners are among the fund's backers.
Crypto podcaster Andrew Steinwold just raised $100 million for an NFT fund with the help of the Winklevoss twins and two general partners from Andreessen Horowitz.
Steinwold, who hosts the crypto podcast Zima Red, is a managing partner of Sfermion, a Chicago-based investment firm founded in 2019 that's focused on nonfungible tokens. Sfermion said in a Monday press release that the money will help it build a portfolio of investments underpinning the
"It is incredible to see our thesis play out that NFTs were the key missing piece of technology needed for the metaverse to come to fruition," Steinwold said in the release.
The $100 million "Fund II" received backing from Alan Howard,
The backers all have a hand in the crypto world. For example, the Winklevoss twins founded the $4, while Dixon and Andreessen's firm Andreessen Horowitz has $4 investments.
"NFTs are transforming digital experiences and creating new investment opportunities across a variety of decentralized marketplaces," Dixon said in the release.
According to $4, Steinwold's Zima Red $4 explore the NFT and crypto world and have become "essential parts of the media diet for metaverse enthusiasts."
Sfermion and Steinwold also have invested in dozens of NFT-oriented companies, such as OpenSea, Artblocks, Yield Guild Games, and Nifty Island.
The market for NFTs, aka digital artworks tied to a blockchain, has ballooned this year. In the third quarter alone, they registered $10.7 billion in trading volume, a 704% jump from nearly $2 billion in the three months prior, $4, citing DappRadar.