Non-fungible token marketplace (NFT) OpenSea is set to be valued more than industry senior Gemini, according to reports. This comes after OpenSea has been receiving new investment offers that could result in it’s valuation increasing up to 6 times. This could result in a valuation of around $10 billion, or even higher! This was reported by The Information.
The sources that were cited by The Information said that this does not come as part of a fundraising campaign. Instead, “investors are clamoring for a piece of the startup after its trading volumes spiked this summer.”
OpenSea was founded in 2017. The exchange recently raised $100 million in a Series B round led by Andreesen Horowitz in July. The exchange has handled over $11 billion in sales so far, per data from DappRadar.
According to DappRadar, the marketplace has seen more than $90 million in trading volume over the last 24 hours and has seen $1.56 billion in the last month alone. In comparison, one year ago the exchange’s 24hr volume was $62,800.
Mati Greenspan, founder and CEO of Quantum Economics, commented on the reported new valuation “That’s a lot of money for a marketplace that pulls all [its] goods right off the ETH Blockchain. They should probably take the deal.”
The CEO went on to say that the exchange has a “little moat”, referring to the fact that their inventory lives on Ethereum blockchain leaving them vulnerable to disruption.
Rival Gemini is reportedly raising funds towards a valuation that will be $3 billion smaller than Opensea’s reported one. Gemini was founded in 2014 and is reportedly hoping to raise $400 million in a new funding round. This would value the company at $7 billion.
These claims were made and reported by Bloomberg which quoted anonymous people who had “asked not to be identified because the information is private.” The same sources did however say that “no plans are finalized and the terms can still change.”
The media outlet added that Gemini was among those looking to “take advantage of favourable market conditions and increasing interest from mainstream investors to raise money.” This comes after BTC has recently hit a new all-time-high.
