MakersPlace operates an NFT marketplace for digital art, leveraging blockchain technology to ensure authenticity, uniqueness and ownership for digital creators. The platform accepts both cryptocurrency (ETH) and non-cryptocurrency (USD) payments. Founded in 2018 by Dannie Chu, Yash Nelapati and Ryoma Ito, the company is based in San Francisco, CA. In June 2021 it raised $30M in a Series A to support growth. The company will use the funds to acquire additional talent, scale the business in existing markets and explore new ones. MakersPlace targets digital creators and collectors across art, music and sports, with notable angel backers from those industries. MakersPlace provides a marketplace where creators upload digital works, verify identity via Civic, and generate an Ethereum-based token that records the creator, title, edition number, date and contract IDs to prove authorship. Artists can sell limited-edition digital prints through the site and MakersPlace takes a 15 percent commission on sales. Collectors receive a non-fungible token they can store in their own crypto wallet or a MakersPlace wallet, purchase with credit card or Ether, and resell on secondary markets; MakersPlace assumes no ownership of hosted art. The site officially launched after a year of beta testing and the company says it has partnered with thousands of digital artists. The platform emphasizes easy onboarding for creators with minimal blockchain experience while relying on identity-verification to deter fraudulent uploads. MakersPlace competes with several other blockchain art projects and faces risks around attribution and potential hijacking of creative identities.

Total raised

$32M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Aug 2021