Berlin-based FUEL has announced that it has raised €1.5 million in pre-seed funding to create the “Shopify for NFTs,” according to a company statement.
FUEL aims to empower creators to build an NFT shop that requires no coding knowledge. FUEL was co-founded by Csongor Barabasi, Thanh Binh Tran, Stefan Tietze and Patrice Deckert. The vision is to bring NFTs further into the mainstream by simplifying the process
Tietze and Deckert noted that last year approximately $25 billion in NFTs were traded globally up from just$95 million in 2020.
“Artists like Steve Aoki, Nas, Grimes, and brands like Lamborghini entered the space,” said the two founders. “The art establishment also sees value in the space, with brokers like Sotheby’s entering the market.”
The round was supported by NYC-based FintechCollective (a shareholder of OpenSea), London-based Seedcamp and Notion Capital via Pioneers. Multiple angels also participated the round like Bitstamp CTO David Osojnik, Gumtree Co-founder Michael Pennington or Indeed founder Paul Forster.
“Even though we see growing adoption, NFTs are still in an early phase. Currently, the barrier of entry for creators is very high. The market has outgrown the basic sales functionality of aggregation platforms like OpenSea, and creators need more tools to succeed in the next phase”, said Barabasi.
Trans said the company is currently working with Tomorrowland-DJs Mat.Joe and several other yet-to-be-announced top artists and labels aiming to launch NFTs within the next few weeks.