In the most recent funding round, Dapper Labs Inc., which makes virtual basketball trading cards, has secured a $250 million investment and a partnership with LaLiga to offer digital collectibles for soccer enthusiasts, as per the company's statement on Wednesday.

Andreessen Horowitz, Google's GV, and Version One Ventures were among the investors in the funding round, which was led by Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management. Dapper Labs is now valued at $7.6 billion, as per the source.

In an interview, Roham Gharegozlou, the company's co-founder and chief executive officer, said, "This round, for me, was much more about bringing the right partners around the table for our next leg of growth."

He adds, “Earlier this year, we proved the concept for NFTs and I think we’ve seen the industry as a whole exploding -- and we’ve got the platform that can power thousands of times more activity than we see today.”

Dapper Labs is best known for producing NBA Top Shots. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are the foundation of the platform. Users can purchase digital cards depicting NBA players and events, which can also be sold to other players. 

Dapper Labs will soon offer a unique digital collectible experience for soccer fans all over the world as a result of their cooperation with LaLiga.

This new collaboration will allow fans to collect and own some of the most popular game moments from their favorite clubs, including Real Madrid, Atletico de Madrid, FC Barcelona, Valencia CF, Sevilla FC, Villarreal CF, Real Sociedad, Real Betis, Athletic Club, RCD Mallorca, and many others.

The LaLiga experience will be available in 2022. The LaLiga Moments, which is similar to NBA Top Shot Moments, will be available to buy, collect, and own.

Pavan A

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA