Quick take:
- Web3 media startup PROOF has raised $10 million from VC firm, Seven Seven Six.
- The VC firm of PROOF co-founder Kevin Rose also participated in the funding round.
- PROOF COO Ryan Carson has left the company to focus on his new fund.
PROOF, the Web3 media startup behind the wildly successful Moonbirds NFT collection, has raised $10 from Seven Seven Six, the VC firm of Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian.
The announcement, which was made in a tweet last night, also revealed that the VC firm of PROOF’s co-founder Kevin Rose, True Ventures, participated in the funding round. Rose did not disclose how much True Ventures invested but specified in a Twitter Space that Seven Seven Six injected $10 million into PROOF.
PROOF started out last year as a podcast and launched PROOF Collective last December, a private group consisting of more than 1000 collectors and creators including Beeple and Gary Vaynerchuk.
The company went on to launch PROOF NFTs, which were sold via a Dutch auction at 5 ETH each. Currently, the NFTs are only available on the secondary market, with the cheapest one listed at 115 ETH as of this writing.
PROOF NFTs have surged in price due to the hype surrounding Moonbirds, which launched on Apr 16. PROOF NFT holders received two Moonbirds NFTs, and 7,875 more were sold at 2.5 ETH each to those who won a spot on the allowlist via a raffle.
Moonbirds saw $285 million worth of trading volume three days after launch. Over the weekend, The Sandbox purchased Moonbird #2642 for 350 ETH ($1 million) on OpenSea. According to data by “cryptuschrist” on Dune Analytics, Moonbirds has generated a total sales of $447 million. Holders can enjoy perks including access to exclusive events, real-life gifts and merchandise and early access to the Moonbirds metaverse.
Kevin Rose said in a video today that PROOF didn’t need to raise funds as the company “had money in the bank”, but he wanted to work with Ohanian. The company plans to release more NFTs and Web3 content as well as hold a live conference in 2023.
Moonbirds faced some controversy after COO Ryan Carson announced his new fund, 121G, yesterday. Carson allegedly swept up 200 ETH worth of Moonbirds on the secondary market shortly after the launch of the NFT collection, based on “insider info” of PROOF’s future plans.
Following the reveal of his new fund, Carson announced last he’s leaving PROOF to focus on the fund.
In response to questions about Carson’s purchases and departure, Rose said: “I had an internal policy not to purchase any Moonbirds until after rarity counts were out to the public,” Rose tweeted. “I can’t control someone clicking a button to purchase, but I can put stronger controls in place for all future drops. e.g., no employee purchases for 7-days.”
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