In a ground-breaking move, FC Barcelona, the Spanish football titan, has made a significant leap into the digital finance and art sphere. The club declared on August 11 that it had secured a massive investment expand web3 project of $132 million. This funding is aimed at the club’s blockchain and NFT-centric venture, Barça Vision.
Investment Details and Stake Acquisition
The investment was a joint effort by Libero Football Finance AG, a financial consultancy for football clubs based in Germany, and Nipa Capital B.V., a Netherlands-based venture capital firm. In return for this capital boost, FC Barcelona parted with a 29.5% stake in Bridgeburg Invest, the parent entity of Barça Vision.
The club’s developers describe Barça Vision as a project that encompasses all digital content related to Web3 and blockchain, including NFTs and metaverse. They emphasized that this initiative embodies the club’s strategy to shape the digital ‘Espai Barça’. However, it’s important to mention that this deal is still awaiting approval from FC Barcelona shareholders. If everything goes as anticipated, the agreement will be finalized in the last quarter of 2023.
Barcelona’s Previous Ventures into Web3
This isn’t FC Barcelona’s first foray into the blockchain world. Since February 2020, the club has been working with Chiliz blockchain to produce Ethereum-powered FC Barcelona Fan Tokens (BAR) to enhance fan engagement. In August 2022, Chiliz deepened its ties with Barça by acquiring a 24.5% stake in Barça Vision for a staggering $100 million.
In May of the current year, they launched their inaugural NFT collection in collaboration with Plastiks. Dubbed “Unleash Your Passion,” this collection, featuring 3,000 animal-inspired NFTs priced at $30 each, aims to contribute to “removing 35,000,000 kilograms of plastic from our planet.”
FC Barcelona’s NFT Achievements
FC Barcelona’s digital achievements didn’t stop there. The club’s first NFT, “Masterpiece #1 In A Way”, was sold at Sotheby’s New York auction in July 2022, fetching an impressive $693,000. This was quickly followed by another collectible, “Masterpiece #2 – Empowerment”, which was purchased on OpenSea in June 2023 for $300,231.
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