Nfts
OpenSea chief says NFT platform is “open-minded” to acquisitions, including its own – DL News
- CEO Devin Finzer said OpenSea received acquisition interest, but did not specify when or from whom.
- The NFT player is struggling to find his place after a few difficult years.
- He said Blur had “taken shortcuts” on the path to market domination.
Stung by the collapse of NFTs last year, OpenSea struggled to justify its one-off Valuation of $13.3 billion.
Now, the non-fungible token market is at the center of another conversation: acquisitions.
Devin Finzer, CEO and co-founder of OpenSea, said DL News this week, the company remains open to deals.
When asked if OpenSea was preparing to be acquired by another entity, he said, “the honest answer is we’re taking a pretty open-minded approach.”
“We think if the right partnership comes along, then that’s something we should definitely consider,” adding, “we like to keep our options open.”
As for any prior acquisition interest or if anyone was interested in buying OpenSea today, he said DL News that OpenSea “certainly had an interest,” but it was confidential.
When asked if this interest arose last year or in 2022, Finzer replied that “the timetable was also confidential.”
In a follow-up email after the interview, Finzer said: “We have no plans for an acquisition nor are we looking for a suitor. If something happens, we’ll keep an open mind, but that’s just conjecture.
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OpenSea and Blur
At its peak, OpenSea accounted for approximately 90% of the NFT sector’s market share. Now it’s monthly trading volume fell to $171 million, a 96% drop from January 2022, according to data from Dune Analytics.
And its rival Blur, an NFT platform going live in late 2022, used airdrops of its token to overtake OpenSea and become the top marketplace.
Although OpenSea still has more users than Blur, the latter’s daily trading volume of $18 million is about five times higher, according to Dune.
Finzer said he was not perturbed by Blur’s performance and was focused on building a brand “that keeps users safe by removing any fraudulent or problematic collections.”
“We just noticed that Blur has kind of taken a lot of shortcuts when it comes to its legal and regulatory approach,” he said. DL News.
Blur did not respond to a request for comment.
Monkeys and penguins
Venture capitalists who backed OpenSea during the NFT craze in 2021 may once again welcome a deal with crypto on the rise.
Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Coatue Management and tech enthusiast Ashton Kutcher all embarked on fundraising for OpenSea as it became a marketplace for vintage NFT collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and Pudgy Penguins .
In November, Coatue reduced the valuation of its stake by 90%, to $13 million, Information reported.
Finzer has remained tight-lipped about long-standing rumors that the company would favor an IPO.
Looking for talent
Traders regularly look for bargains when bear markets turn into bull markets. And with crypto in the midst of such a transition, there could be some consolidation in the NFT market.
OpenSea has done its share of deals. In 2022, OpenSea acquired Gem, an NFT aggregation tool. It also bought Dharma, an early crypto wallet, and Mintdrop, which allows creators to quickly bring their collections to market.
Finzer said one of the main things he looks for in an acquisition is talent.
“Some of the most passionate people are the ones who start their own thing, those kinds of people with an entrepreneurial spirit,” Finzer said. “Maybe they didn’t get the level of traction they wanted in their own startup and are looking for a home elsewhere.”
Gucci gaga for collectibles
From the start, NFTs have made sense for a large number of content-based businesses, including entertainment giants, professional sports leagues, museums, and fashion houses.
Finzer spent the first weeks of 2024 between meetings with luxury brand executives to develop bespoke NFT projects and attending various Fashion Week events this week in Paris.
It’s not a new trend: Gucci and Louis Vuitton have entered the crypto space in 2021. But Finzer said this year is different.
“I think now people are starting to understand this more,” he said. “I was really impressed during these conversations, by the level of sophistication of the people who are leading these projects and initiatives.”
Layoffs
He sees more promising upward trends. Users are trading NFTs for physical goods, and brands are jumping into the metaverse – a loosely defined term referring to always-online digital environments – and “living pure digital experiences.”
This change is welcome after a difficult period. Last fall, OpenSea laid off half its staff, Finzer confirmed to DL News.
“The restructuring we did was really about adjusting the makeup of the team to make it a much smaller, smaller team capable of operating with more agility in the market, as opposed to a reduction in headcount due to financial pressure,” Finzer said.
This article was updated on January 29 to include additional context.
Liam Kelly is DL News’ Berlin correspondent. Contact him at liam@dlnews.com.