Inside Dapper Labs: From 2018 to Now Into a $627 million business
Startup Type:
Headquarter: Vancouver, Canada
Current Status: Active (private; NFT platform expanded to sports and music partnerships)
Founders: Roham Gharegozlou
Founded Year: 2018
Investors: a16z Crypto, GV, Union Square Ventures
Funding Raised: $627 million
What Is the business model of Dapper Labs?
Blockchain startup known for creating NFT-based games and collectibles, most famously NBA Top Shot, using its own Flow blockchain to sell digital collectible moments and other NFT content
How Dapper Labs got started?
Spun out of Axiom Zen after the viral success of CryptoKitties clogged Ethereum, Dapper Labs officially formed in 2018 to focus on NFTs, eventually partnering with the NBA in 2020 to launch Top Shot, which brought NFT collectibles to mainstream sports fans
what growth strategy has Dapper Labs followed?
Capitalized on a first-mover advantage in branded NFT experiences and focused on user-friendliness to onboard hundreds of thousands of users, its focus on delivery allowed it to avoid some safety requirements and raise large funding to iterate toward a viable driverless delivery network
what are the top products/features of Dapper Labs
NBA Top Shot marketplace, Flow blockchain, NFL All Day, CryptoKitties
what was the biggest challenge faced by Dapper Labs?
Scaling their new Flow blockchain and maintaining user experience as demand spiked enormously for Top Shot in early 2021, including long withdrawal times and a need to appease both crypto-native users and traditional sports fans new to blockchain