[Funding alert] FanCraze raises $100 mn in a funding round from Insight Partners

FanCraze, the digital collectibles company has raised $100 million in a funding round from New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, with participation from B Capital.

Known as one of the largest Series A rounds in Asia, Mirae Financial, Tiger Global, Coatue Management, Sequoia Capital India, Courtside Ventures, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s CR7 also invested in this round.

The company will use the funds to integrate and accelerate the development of new game relationships using its global team, R&D lab, user experience team, gaming studio and marketplace platform where fans can buy, trade and craft their NFTs and will continue to grow the company’s engineering, marketing and customer success teams as the company expands its technology-focused offering to create a holistic fan experience.

“NFTs are fast becoming a movement and are enabling a direct relationship between all types of IP owners and their fans. NFTs represent culture and FanCraze is building an experience that would enable fans to collect cricket NFTs, engage with play-to-earn games and utilities, and own digital land,” said Anshum Bhambri, chief executive officer of FanCraze.

“Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world and FanCraze has quickly become the leader of cricket digital collectibles and NFTs, especially with their exclusive partnership with the ICC, FanCraze’s co-founders, Anshum and Sundar, are best-in-class and we look forward to partnering with the FanCraze team as they continue to rapidly scale up and grow”, Said Deven Parekh, MD, Insight Partners.

“We are thrilled to back FanCraze, which is augmenting the power of NFTS to give higher freedom, economic incentives, and thrill to fans. It can become a powerful mechanism to onboard new users in the Web3 space, where we have made multiple investments in the past,” said Kabir Narang, founding general partner at B Capital.

In January, FanCraze dropped 75 instant NFTs (non fungible tokens) from the ICC Men’s World Cup.

Founded in 2021 by Anshum Bhambri, FanCraze’s current partners include the ICC, Cricket West Indies (CWI), and cricketers including Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Yuzvendra Chahal, Muthiah Muralidaran, Jonty Rhodes, & Andre Russell.