NFT auction marketplace OpenSea is now a Unicorn. The platform that witnessed massive traction earlier this year raised $100 million in a Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz at $1.5 billion, as per a TechCrunch report.
The startup, which raised $23 million in Series in March this year, witnessed investors such as Coatue, CAA, Michael Ovitz, Kevin Hartz, Kevin Durant, and Ashton Kutcher in the fresh round.
As per the TechCrunch report, OpenSea saw $160 million in sales last month and is growing fast despite challenges. One of the company’s clearer growth roadblocks has been infrastructure issues native to the Ethereum blockchain-based marketplace.
The Ethereum blockchain, which has several network upgrades, has struggled to keep up with the NFT boom. OpenSea plans to move toward long-term scalability by announcing that they plan to bring support for several more blockchains to its platform, starting with Polygon, a popular Layer 2 Ethereum blockchain that boasts a more energy-efficient structure. Polygon is expected to eliminate gas fees for creators, buyers, and sellers on that blockchain.
Beyond Polygon, OpenSea has plans to integrate with Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain, as well as Tezos down the road, the company says.
Operating across multiple blockchains could create issues for consumers operating across platforms with differing levels of support for each network. The report added that NFT investors are also more hesitant to buy items on blockchains they see as less time-tested Ethereum.
But overall, the user-friendly changes will likely be well received by the wider NFT community, which has seen the explosion in new interest stress-test its systems and highlight the need for user interface and user experience improvements.
