Portals Raises $5 Million to Build Out Solana NFT – While Ethereum is the foundation for many of today’s metaverse initiatives, such as Decentraland and The Sandbox, we’re starting to see more activity on competing chains. Since its introduction last fall, the Solana-based Portals has quickly acquired traction and notable users, and the project has already received $5 million to further its metaverse ambition.
Greylock led a $5 million seed investment in Portals today. Multicoin Capital, Alameda Research, Solana Ventures, Sino Global Capital, and The Chainsmokers’ Mantis VC firm were among the extra investors. Justin Kan, the co-founder of Twitch and the new gaming NFT marketplace Fractal, also contributed.
The funding will be used to increase the project’s team as it continues to develop its metaverse endeavor, which includes the imminent debut of its Portals Downtown city hub as well as improved creative tools.
In November 2021, Portals sold its interactive Spaces as NFT assets, and the following month, functionality was released, allowing users to engage with the locations. Each Space may be customized using drag-and-drop tools, making it simple to import owned NFTs and create a setting that resembles the Animal Crossing game series.
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FTX US and Binance.US are two cryptocurrency exchanges. In the Portals universe crypto projects such as blockchain music service Audius, NFT marketplace Magic Eden, and DeFi protocol Raydium have created “metaverse headquarters.” On Magic Eden, the cheapest Portals NFT is priced for 85 SOL, or just over $9,000. The “Onyx” and “Vision” levels of Portals, which cater to brands and businesses, currently have price floors of 469 SOL ($50,000) and 2,100 SOL ($220,000), respectively.
The metaverse is a more immersive future internet concept in which users engage in shared 3D areas for both work and play, and own and use NFT assets. The recent hoopla around the metaverse has been fueled by Facebook’s rebranding as Meta, although blockchain-based companies have been developing in the sector for years.
Following Facebook’s announcement last October, metaverse game projects like Decentraland and The Sandbox have experienced a significant boost in token prices and demand for virtual land plots in their respective worlds. According to MetaMetric Solutions, more than $500 million in virtual land was sold in 2021.
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Portals is leading the way on Solana, while Somnium Space, a fellow metaverse project, added support late last year. Over the previous six months, Solana’s own NFT ecosystem has grown dramatically, with projects like Solana Monkey Business and Degenerate Ape Academy in high demand and new NFT-driven games like Star Atlas and Aurory generating hype.
As of mid-January, the market has generated more than $1.2 billion in trade activity, and over 5.7 million Solana NFTs minted, according to the designers of Metaplex, Solana’s NFT protocol. Last month, Metaplex secured $46 million in a round co-led by Multicoin and Jump Capital, with retired NBA star Michael Jordan as a participant.