SOURCES: OpenSea Eyes $13 Billion Valuation
Coatue expected to lead the round with Kathryn Haun's new fund participating
The NFT-marketplace OpenSea is in talks to raise at a $13 billion valuation in a deal led by Coatue, sources tell me. Paradigm will also co-lead the $300 million funding round, according to a spokesperson for the firm.
Kathryn Haun’s new crypto fund, which is currently operating under Haun’s initials “KRH,” is also participating in the funding round, sources tell me.
Dan Rose at Coatue is spearheading the round and may take a board observer seat.
OpenSea looks to be an iconic, controversial company that can’t stay out of the headlines for good or bad. This week, it froze Bored Ape transactions after an apparent $2.2 million theft, raising hackles from the hardcore crypto crowd who questioned OpenSea’s fidelity to decentralization. Last year, an OpenSea executive parted ways with the company after it appeared that he was front-running the public by buying NFTs before they were prominently displayed on OpenSea’s marketplace.
But in many ways OpenSea’s perpetual controversies signify how essential the company has become to the ever growing crypto world. (OpenSea did not immediately return an email requesting comment. Representatives for Andreessen Horowitz did not return request for comment or reply to a fact-checking email detailing many of the assertions in this story.)
Haun, who co-chaired Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto fund until she announced her departure late last year, is the only board member outside of OpenSea’s two founders, Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah. Haun led the company’s Series A and Series B funding rounds while at Andreessen Horowitz.
Andreessen Horowitz has raised three crypto funds.
Crypto Fund I (2018): $300 million
Crypto Fund II (2020): $515 million
Crypto Fund III (2021): $2.2 billion
Andreessen Horowitz’s speed at deploying the third crypto fund was one justification for Haun’s sudden departure: