Atlanta-based GigLabs Lands $4.5M Seed Round As Major Brands Jump Into NFTs

NFTs may seem like the latest overnight craze in art, entertainment, and sports. But the team behind Atlanta-based GigLabs has been building in the space for years, and they are ready to show the world the power of non-fungible tokens. 

Jon Parise, Chief Revenue Officer and co-founder of GigLabs, told Hypepotamus that NFTs are best thought about as the latest rendition of digital ownership. “Readers likely already buy digital media (music, movies) and items in video games (avatar skins, weapons, etc),” he said. “Ownership is usually verified by logging into an account that is part of a closed system. NFTs take this ownership outside of a closed ecosystem and puts it into a publicly-verifiable space. This ability opens up many new ways to use and experience digital ownership across many platforms – leading to a whole new world of personal control and interoperability.”

The team has partnered with CNN, Nascar, Turner Sports, along with collegiate and professional athletic teams to build out NFT experiences.

Jon Parise – LinkedIn

Our products and solutions go beyond the typical marketplace you might see in the NFT space. We’re focused on creating a platform that allows anyone to build any NFT experience imaginable. In practice that means a customizable, branded website to launch a new project, simple to use tools and user experience that remove any complexity surrounding blockchain and NFT utility,” said Parise.

That could mean helping fans collect NFTs through QR codes, or in the case of CNN, allowing people to own photos and videos from iconic moments the news channel covered. 

Parise said the team is also building in the metaverse through RareRooms — 3D virtual rooms that show off NFTs.

 

Funding in the NFT Space 

The team just landed a $4.5 million seed round led by Dapper Labs and Atlanta-based Panoramic Ventures. Collab+Currency, Red Beard Ventures, Eterna Capital, Alumni Venture Group, Gaingels, and Amino Capital also joined the round.

“Sometimes the magic is making it simple to do something complex. GigLabs takes a transformative technology and makes it accessible to companies, organizations, and brands of all sizes,” added Paul Judge, Managing Partner of Panoramic Ventures, in a statement. “We believe in the power of NFTs to combine content, culture, and community and we’re enthusiastic to back GigLabs on this journey.”

 

 

Dapper Labs has made its mark on the NFT and blockchain space as the original developers behind Flow, the “proof of stake” blockchain on which GigLabs is built. 

Parise said building on Flow is more energy-efficient than “proof of work” blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Flow’s active nodes, Parise pointed out, consume less than 1GWh of power in a year.

Douglas Dimola, CEO and co-founder of GigLabs, said the funding will go towards expanding the remote-first team. 

GigLabs funding news follows a busy week in the world of NFTs. Adobe announced it will soon add a “prepare as NFT” option to Photoshop, and Facebook announced that its metaverse will support the selling of NFTs.