By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 22nd, 2024
The funding is billed to be used to build out the team, and ink the required partnerships among other plans.
Ayoken, a London-based emerging Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplace has raised the sum of $1.4 million in pre-seed. As reported by TechCrunch, the investors involved in the pre-seed round include Founders Factory Africa, Texas-based Kon Ventures, Europe-based venture capital collective Crypto League, Ghana-based R9C Ventures, and Maximus Ventures, all of whom believe in the startup’s vision to bridge the gap between artists in the creative industry and their fans.
Founded by Joshua King, with years of experience in strategy, growth and innovation consultancy, and entrepreneurship, Ayokenlabs is built to feature NFTs and digital collectibles from musicians, sports brands, and influencers around the world. King said the marketplace is designed to give fans a direct sense of belonging when it comes to their idol’s success in the creative industry.
Users holding Ayoken NFTs will gain access to a lot of exclusive benefits including behind-the-scenes shows from musicians, and access to artists’ albums before launching on Spotify, YouTube, or other channels.
“Through VIP passes, fans will get the ability to actually livestream music by these artists before it arrives on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Music. Fans will get discounts for future events too,” he said.
The design of the marketplace is billed to give absolute ease of use to everyone, and as such, Ayoken users will have various options to acquire their desired NFTs on the marketplace. While there is provision for crypto payments, card payments are also being integrated with ongoing discussions with Telcos to grant access to mobile money.
“We are reducing friction points for the users by letting people use their cards instead of having to use crypto to buy, we are working on partnerships with telcos that will allow people to use mobile money to make the payment in future too. Nothing comes close to what we are doing and that is why we are able to sign some of the biggest names in the creative industry,” King added.
Ayoken NFT Marketplace Operations
The Ayoken NFT marketplace gives its customers a lot of direct benefits including AYO token rewards when they either make the purchase of a digital collectible or refer a user who completes a transaction on the platform.
Ayoken is built on the Avalanche public blockchain, however, the plan is to build multi-chain permissions for the marketplace in the near future. According to King, the marketplace is forming important partnerships and bonds with influencers, newsletters, YouTubers, and crypto exchanges amongst others that will help promote any major drop from artists making their NFT debuts through the marketplace.
“What this means is that celebrities do not have to rely on their social media following to drive transactions. They get instant access to millions of people all around the world at the touch of a button. And our approach is so different to any other NFC marketplace on the planet. we also have a marketing agency to help these creatives succeed in their first NFT drops,” said King.
The funding is billed to be used to build out the team, and ink the required partnerships among other plans.