With Facebook bringing the metaverse into the mainstream, a Chicago fund has just raised $100 million to back NFTs and other projects centered around our evolving digital world.
Sfermion, led by Chicagoan Andrew Steinwold, said today it has raised a $100 million fund that's focused on NFTs and the emergence of the metaverse. The fund, the second from Sfermion since it launched in 2019, is backed by some heavy hitters in the tech and crypto industry: Marc Andreessen, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, CMT Digital, and Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz.
Sfermion invests in early-stage NFT companies, tokens and direct NFT projects. Some of the companies Sfermion and Steinwold have backed include popular NFT marketplace OpenSea, digital art marketplace SuperRare, generative art platform Artblocks and crypto gaming firm Yield Guild Games.
This fund will look to build a "robust portfolio of investments that underpin the development of the metaverse," Sfermion says. The metaverse, a three-dimensional digital world built with virtual and augmented reality technology, is designed for people to work, play and interact online — with NFTs serving as a key piece of its infrastructure. NFTs, or "non-fungible tokens," operate as a form of digital ownership, and allow people to buy, sell and display their artwork in the digital world.
Facebook, which changed its name to Meta last week, said its metaverse will incorporate NFTs, including making it easier to sell digital pieces and showcase them.
Steinwold, a Chicago crypto analyst and podcaster who appeared on Fortune's list of the 50 most influential people in NFTs, told Chicago Inno in August that his first fund has purchased more than 1,000 NFTs.
Other investors in Sfermion's second fund include hedge fund manager Alan Howard, Bloq co-founder Matthew Roszak and Animoca Brands.
