Crypto Startup MoonPay Raises $87 Million From Justin Bieber, Maria Sharapova, and Others

MoonPay is a cryptocurrency payments startup that provides infrastructure for crypto and NFT transactions.

By Reuters | Updated: 13 April 2022 12:52 IST

Crypto Startup MoonPay Raises $87 Million From Justin Bieber, Maria Sharapova, and Others

Photo Credit: Pexels/ Rodnae Productions

Investors include Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, and Maria Sharapova

Highlights

The investments are part of the firm's Series A round
The investors include Ashton Kutcher, and The Weeknd
MoonPay uses NFTs to market their work

Cryptocurrency payments startup MoonPay has raised $87 million (roughly Rs. 663 crore) from more than 60 high-profile investors including singer Justin Bieber, rapper Snoop Dogg, tennis player Maria Sharapova and actor Bruce Willis as the role of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in content creation and fan engagement expands.

The investments are part of the firm's Series A round, disclosed in November last year which valued the company at $3.4 billion (roughly Rs. 25,925 crore), MoonPay said on Wednesday.

More than 600 crypto startups have seen over $12.5 billion (roughly Rs. 95,310 crore) in venture capital funding so far this year, according to Alex McDougall, managing director at fund manager 3iQ Digital Assets.

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MoonPay, which provides payment infrastructure for crypto and NFT transactions, expects content creators to increasingly use NFTs to market their work and engage with fans, chief executive officer Ivan Soto-Wright said.

NFT is a type of crypto asset that uses blockchain technology to record who owns a digital file, which could be an image, a video or a text.

Other investors in the company include rapper Aubrey Drake Graham and Adel Future Nur's company Dreamcrew, Gwyneth Paltrow-led Kinship Ventures, Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary-backed venture capital firm Sound Ventures, singer Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd and his manager Amir Esmailian.

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