Magic Eden is flying high with $130 million in its latest round of funding. The Solana-based NFT marketplace raised the funds in a Series B, which pushed up its valuation to $1.6 billion. Electric Capital, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Paradigm, among others, participated. This round has raised hopes in the broader crypto market. Investors still see potential in non-fungible tokens despite a noted slump.
Avichal Garg, the managing partner at Electric Capital, highlighted that the firm’s valuation has surged tenfold since March. Gard shared that he is not too worried about overpaying because the headwinds will last 18 or 24 months, and not six years. He, with other executives in the crypto market, has been through bear market cycles.
Jack Lu, CEO at Magic Eden, said they hadn’t intended to kick off another round immediately, but there was a lot of interest. Founded in September 2021, Magic Eden is regarded as a Solana-version of OpenSea. Like its counterpart, Magic Eden is a place to buy and sell NFTs. It charges a 2% fee. The NFT marketplace has grown rapidly since its launch. According to DappRadar, Magic Eden is now the third-largest NFT marketplace after OpenSea and LooksRare.
Over the past couple of months, there has been a noted interest among NFT collectors and creators for Solana-based NFTs. This is attributed to faster transaction times and lower costs compared to Ethereum-based NFTs.
