Equity markets have taken a beating in September and the S&P 500 is now **only** up 32% over the trailing 12 months. Even worse, bitcoin is down almost 20% since our letter last week and **only** up 300% since Sept 2020. Elsewhere in Crypto, we recently heard an unconfirmed rumor that someone sold an NFT of a crippled manatee JPEG for a loss.
What We Won’t Be Covering
I think we’ve seen 183 explainer articles/podcasts/tweet threads on Evergrande situation this week. If you want to know what’s up there, Google it.
What Caught Our Attention
Web3 is what we’re learning about this week. If you’re older than 25, you know Web 1.0—great example is
In mid-2000s, Web 2.0 took over- user generated content launched some of the biggest influencers of today’s society: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter.
Now, everyone is talking about web3. You owe it to yourself to get smart here!
NFTs are the Future and Institutional Adoption of Crypto Continues Apace
Invesco (currently in discussions to join State Street) have partnered with Galaxy Digital to offer crypto ETFs, per a recent filing, combing the reach and ETF expertise of the former with the digital assets investing acumen of the latter. Yet more options for Institutional and Retail investors to access crypto with an asset management/assurance layer.
In two separate announcements, Sorare and Dapper Labs both announced massive capital raises related to world football.
Sorare (raising $680m from SoftBank) is an NFT-based card game (think EA Sports’ FUT) where players acquire player cards to build teams and compete with others on the network. From the article:
"We saw the immense potential that blockchain and NFTs brought to unlock a new way for football clubs, footballers, and their fans to experience a deeper connection with each other," said Nicolas Julia, CEO and co-founder of Sorare.
"We believe this is a huge opportunity to create the next sports entertainment giant."
Since January 2021, there have been $150 million of sales on Sorare, which accepts payments via credit card and the cryptocurrency ether. The most expensive unique card is of Cristiano Ronaldo, which was bought for 245,072 euros ($287,420.44) on March 13.
The fundraising round was SoftBank's first time investing in Sorare, via its SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Dapper Labs raised $250m and announced a partnership with Spain’s La Liga to produce a football-specific version of NBA TopShot. Google all you want, but the NBA’s revenue looks to be anywhere from 2x to 3x that of La Liga… however, the value of Europe’s top leagues cumulatively dwarfs that of the US professional basketball league. This looks like an important first step into what is sure to become a trend with other leagues.
The VentureBeat article is a must-read. Some excerpts:
“In the past year, the company and fans have sold more than $780 million worth of the NBA Top Shot moments in the marketplace.”
#IRL “Dapper Labs said that its fans will have a chance to win contests that will give them once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, like being flown to Barcelona for the weekend where they will be able to watch ElClasico, the biggest football game in the world, from a VIP Box at Camp Nou.”
This week in Private Markets + Retail…
Real Estate platform Juniper Square has partnered with crowdfunding platform CrowdStreet to make capital raise and investor management tools for Commercial Real Estate asset managers.
In a similar vein, iCapital Network and Grayscale announced this week that announced a partnership to offer GBTC shares through iCapital’s network of 6.7k+ RIA’s. The move means that digital assets exposure through Institutional-quality investment vehicles that can be offered by wealth managers at scale.
Both of these items point to the rise of digital platforms bridging the Retail-to-Institutional divide, specifically by pooling and modularizing individual investors’ capital and aiding the reporting component that vexes Asset Managers across their LP base.
Required Listening (and viewing!)
Fund Shack #29 w/Luke Johnson; Legendary British investor Luke Johnson recounts his career and discusses his current portfolio. Notable highlights include his time as CEO of Pizza Express and why he specializes in owning small- and medium-sized businesses. Absolutely fascinating.
Acquired.fm, “Web 2.0 to 3.0 w/Kevin Rose”; In-depth conversation Defi, NFT and Web3 with one of the earliest blockchain advocates. Kevin Rose will make you smarter.
Job Board
Manager of Client Engagement, Kraken
Multiple openings with ArtBlocks, an NFT innovator
Analyst, Hedge and Private Assets, Orchard Capital
Senior Consultant - Family Office, Marquette Associates
Community Manager, Greycroft
Marketing Manager, OpenView Ventures
Director of Marketing, Costanoa Ventures