Courtyard Received $7M in Seed Funding
Courtyard, the physically-backed NFT platform, announced that it has received $7M in seed funding from New Enterprise Associates, a worldwide venture capital firm.
Courtyard received $7M in a seed funding round to redefine physical collectibles ownership through NFTs. Y Combinator, OpenSea Ventures, VaynerFund, Brink’s, Cherry Ventures, and a limited group of angel investors participated in the seed investment round.
The firm creates cutting-edge blockchain infrastructure that enables tangible collectibles to be owned and traded as NFTs for increased liquidity. The additional funds will use to fund product development, hiring, and expansion within Courtyard’s target market.
Introduction to Courtyard
There are inherent frictions in the purchase and sale of high-value physical products. Transactions can take several days to complete and are subject to shipping delays, international limitations, and blatant fraud. Without the physical item itself needing to relocate, Courtyard will enable the secure instant transfer of ownership of tangible collectibles anywhere in the world via NFTs,
“We are excited to build a future-forward foundation for commerce,” said Nicolas le Jeune, Co-founder and CEO of Courtyard. “Most of us on the Courtyard team are collectors in some form who’ve experienced the hassles of trading firsthand. We are eager to introduce brands and consumers to the future of buying and selling physical assets and empower them with the control, transparency, and security that have been missing from the collector ecosystem thus far.”
Partnership Highlights
Courtyard has collaborated with Brink’s, the global leader in comprehensive cash management, route-based safe logistics, and payment solutions. To maintain the greatest levels of security and accountability for physical asset storage. When a customer buys a physical product from Courtyard, they receive an NFT that includes a custom 3D depiction of the object to display in the digital realm.
The related physical asset is authenticated, insured, and housed in a vault operated by Brinks. The NFT serves as a digital ticket for evidence of ownership and authenticity, allowing the physical asset to be transferred without being physically transported or re-authenticated at each sale. The owner of the NFT can redeem it at any time in exchange for the physical asset. Courtyard takes advantage of Brink’s unrivaled worldwide reach to provide secure transportation around the world.
Management Quote
“Investing in Courtyard represents an exciting digital extension of Brink’s secure storage and transportation capabilities, as we continue to explore new trends and technology,” said Oliver Buckle-Wright, Brink’s Senior Commercial Director.“By securing the physical items represented by NFTs on the blockchain. We create a bridge between offline and digital marketplaces, reassuring collectors that their high-value items are secure.”
“Collectibles are a $400B+ global market ranging from trading cards, watches, and sneakers to fine art, exotic cars, and everything in between,” said Jonathan Golden, Partner at NEA. “Courtyard has built a solution that takes advantage of the massive rise in NFT popularity. Utilizes innovative blockchain technology to solve real-life, physical problems faced by millions of collectors around the world. We’re thrilled to partner with Nico, Paulin, and the Courtyard team to modernize the collectibles industry and create a better, more secure transaction and ownership experiences.”
Courtyard previously demonstrated its tokenization method by issuing $500,000 in graded Pokémon cards as physically backed NFTs, which sold out in less than 4 hours. With the sneaks.world, they have lately ventured into the highly collectible world of sneakers.
About Courtyard
Through Connected Collectibles, a novel, seamless manner of keeping and trading tangible objects, Courtyard is revolutionizing physical asset ownership. They believe blockchain technology can alter the $370 billion collectible market. And aim to provide additional liquidity to reduce the friction associated with selling high-value goods. This is a crucial application of blockchain technology that solves a physical problem.
About NEA
New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA), a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors, and geographies. With nearly $24 billion in cumulative committed capital since the firm’s founding in 1977. NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from the seed stage through IPO. The firm’s track record of investing includes more than 260 portfolio company IPOs and more than 430 mergers and acquisitions
SOURCE
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/courtyard-raises-7m-in-seed-funding-to-redefine-physical-collectibles-ownership-through-nfts-301666525.html
