- The first two quarters of 2021 brought new cryptocurrency unicorns to the fold.
- OpenSea, Amber Group, and Blockchain.com joined the exclusive club of unicorns after being valued at over $1 billion.
- NFT marketplace OpenSea was the latest to join after the conclusion of the Series B round of investment which brought the valuation of the company to $1.5 billion.
- Coinbase holds the record of being the first crypto unicorn and has reached a valuation of almost $100 billion.
Unicorns in cryptocurrencies are becoming more common as adoption rates continue to climb. The first six months of 2021 saw OpenSea, Amber Group, and Animoca Brands, Dapper Labs, and Blockchain.com all become cryptocurrency unicorns after they reached a valuation of over $1 billion. Start-ups are notoriously fickle and reaching the status of a unicorn is an incredibly demanding task, yet these companies braved the odds to reach the significant milestone.
OpenSea, Blockchain.com, and Dapper Labs
NFT marketplace OpenSea became the latest cryptocurrency unicorn after the announcement of a Series B funding round that was spearheaded by a16z.
Other investors that took part in the funding round include Coatue as well as private support from Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Durant. The Series B funding raised $100 million which brings the total valuation to $1 billion.
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The rise in popularity of NFTs led to Dapper Labs joining the elite list of unicorns. The firm that rose to popularity for CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot raised over $305 million in a round that saw Andreessen Horowitz, the Chernin Group, and Coatue amongst others in March 2021.
Not to be outdone, UK-based Blockchain.com secured its place amongst crypto unicorns after raising a staggering $490,000,000 which brought the valuation of the firm to $5.20 billion in February. The company that began operations in 2011, currently has a staff strength of around 500-1,000 employees.
Amber Group and Animoca Brands
Riding on the NFT wave, Animoca Brands reached a valuation of $1 billion after achieving over $88 million in funding. The blockchain-based gaming firm received funding from Kingsway Capital, Huobi, Octava, Ellerston Capital, and Metapurse in May.
In a related development, Amber Group, a Hong Kong-based firm, attained unicorn status after over 6 funding rounds in 2021 alone. The latest raised $100 million and was led by China Renaissance and popular firms like Coinbase and Blockchain.com.
On The Flipside
- The bearish sentiments of the global crypto markets have seen the loss of over $1 trillion
- This trend could have adverse effects on the attainment of unicorn status for cryptocurrency firms.
- The global crypto market capitalization sits at $1.30 trillion while market volume is at $66.30 billion.
Cryptocurrency’s Dance With The Unicorns
Firms that have reached a valuation of $1 billion are considered unicorns in business circles because of their rarity.
In the cryptocurrency space, unicorns are even rarer but with the increasing adoption and rise of the global cryptocurrency market capitalization, more firms are beginning to hit the $1 billion valuations.
In 2017, Coinbase became the first crypto company to be ranked as a unicorn and in the years that followed, other companies followed suit. BlockFi, Chainalysis, Circle, Ripple, Binance, and Bitpanda are some of the firms that have attained the status of unicorns in the cryptocurrency space. It is believed that the number of unicorns could increase exponentially as crypto adoption rates increase.
