By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 17th, 2024
The Genies NFT avatar company, as the name suggests, allows users to develop virtual avatars of themselves to be used on the metaverse. The company also provides accessories that can be bought as NFTs.
Silver Lake has made a $150 million investment in Genies, elevating the NFT avatar company to a $1 billion valuation. According to available information, this contribution positions the private equity firm as the lead investor in this funding round.
Silver Lake Invests in NFT Company
Genies is an NFT platform looking to advance its Web 3 aspirations and the massive investment by Silver Lake catapults it to a startup of unicorn status. Citing Egon Durban in an interview with New York Times’s DealBook, the Silver Lake Co-CEO explained that transformation is just as imminent for small companies as it is for large ones.
This is not the first fundraiser for Genies, as the NFT avatar company held another funding series in May 2021 raising $65 million with Mary Meeker’s Bond Capital taking the lead alongside Dapper Labs, Polychain, Coinbase Ventures, and Hashkey, among others.
In the same way, The Block records that this is not the first investment that Silver Lake has made for the realization of the Web3 dream. Reportedly, the company recently spearheaded a funding round for the Alchemy cryptocurrency infrastructure firm, elevating the company to a $10.2 billion valuation.
It follows that Genies has been very active of late, having associated with the Universal Music Group, on a collaboration intended to enable Universal’s artists to develop digital versions of their personas. Among the musicians that have taken to this feature include Justin Bieber, Migos, and Cardi B.
The Genies NFT avatar company, as the name suggests, allows users to develop virtual avatars of themselves to be used on the metaverse. The company also provides accessories that can be bought as NFTs.
Entertainment Industry Meets Metaverse
Adding to the list of activities for the NFT avatar form, Genies recently brought in Bob Iger as a member of the board and investor alongside Bond Capital, Breyer Capital and New Enterprise Associates.
Iger brings a wealth of management knowledge and skills following 15 years of service as the CEO of the American entertainment conglomerate Disney. Serving in his former capacity, Iger facilitated the acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm, and Pixar, and played a pivotal role in the setting up of the Disney+ streaming platform.
Per reports by the Wall Street Journal, Iger is inspired by his belief in the potential of the entertainment industry in shaping the metaverse. To this end, Iger looks to use his position to establish an avenue for creating and selling digital items, with a specific focus on those linked to current intellectual property.
The on-boarding comes in the wave of several traditional media firms pushing towards the integration of personnel who will lead the metaverse vision like Spotify, YouTube, and a Disney executive passes as the right fit.