NFT
Artifact Labs, a Hong Kong-based non-fungible token (NFT) company, announced on Monday that it has raised US$3.25 million in its seed funding round led by Blue Pool Capital and Animoca Ventures.
See related article: NFTs could become Web3’s “Lego blocks” by 2023, says Gary Liu
Quick Facts
- Artifact, a spin-off of Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP), said in a statement that it would use the funds to expand operations with a primary focus on increasing its tech workforce.
- “It’s not about creating new ones [intellectual properties] for speculation — NFT hype projects, for example — it’s about driving new engagement with historically significant collections by using Web3,” said Phillip Pon, CEO of Artifact Labs. “We want to create new space in the younger public’s awareness of historical marks and artifacts.”
- Artifact added that it plans to release NFT collections as a revenue stream for conservation organizations.
- Gary Liu, founder of Artifact Labs and former CEO of the SCMP, said in an interview last December that NFTs must have an inherent value that is not endorsed by any group of people.
- “There must be an intrinsic value in the asset itself or in the underlying asset it represents. That is what will drive NFT innovation,” said Liu.
- In February, the NFT startup teamed up with RMS Titanic Inc, an organization that shows the wreckage of the famous sunken ship, to strike NFTs based on about 5,500 physical artifacts recovered from the ship.
See related article: Owning a Piece of History: How NFTs Can Help Preserve Our Collective Memory