Flow, the blockchain best known for the NBA hit Top Shot, is making a $725 million push to attract more projects, Dapper Labs, the network's creator, announced Tuesday.
The fund is backed by investors with large holdings of FLOW, the network's token, as well as shares of Dapper Labs itself. They include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Coatue, Union Square Ventures, Greenfield One, Liberty City Ventures and CoinFund, among others.
The fund is the largest ecosystem backup of its kind and will go toward supporting "gaming, infrastructure, decentralized finance, content and creators" in the Flow ecosystem, according to a press release.
"It's a diverse fund in many ways, first in terms of location, we've covered Asia, Europe and North America," Dapper Labs Chief Business Officer Mik Naayem said in an interview with CoinDesk. "But also in terms of expertise and accelerators, from a16z down the list, it makes us very versatile."
Will Flow grow?
Flow's blockchain is known for fast transaction speeds and low costs, with most of its traffic going to Dapper's own suite of NFT platforms - NBA Top Shot, NFL ALL DAY and UFC Strike.
The fund aims to go beyond Dapper's own products and attract developers to the blockchain as Ethereum alternatives continue to fight for their piece of the NFT pie.
Naayem predicts that the industry is moving toward a winner-take-most scenario, where the best technology is likely to attract the lion's share of users.
The announcement comes in a macroeconomic NFT environment that has calmed in recent months, at least compared to Dapper Labs, which raised $250 million at a $7.6 billion valuation in September. Coatue led the capital raise, which also involved a16z.
NBA Top Shot's volume has declined month over month since peaking last spring, although usage of the platform continues to grow.
"Although overall volume has decreased, usage has increased," Naayem said. "What we're seeing in NFTs right now is probably an overcorrection from when enthusiasm was greater than usual in the industry."