NFT infrastructure startup Rarify secures $10M in Series A funding round

Rarify, the NFT infrastructure startup, has secured $10 million in Series A funding, valuing the company at $100 million. The funding round was led by Pantera Capital, which appears to be a key supporter.

Rarify’s main product is an NFT-commerce-focused application programming interface (API) that allows companies to create and incorporate user-friendly platforms into their platforms. Minting and transferring NFTs between blockchain systems are also possible with the API.

The latest funding round follows a $2 million initial round from late last year, including Pareto, Eniac Ventures, and Protocol Labs. The cash will be used to expand the company’s workforce and introduce new products with its partners.

Rarify aims to make NFT trading simpler

Rarify co-founder Revas Tsivtsivadze told Forbes on March 3 that the firm hopes to simplify NFT purchasing and selling in the same way that Square made it very easy to make payments.

Tsivtsivadze cited the check-out procedure of marketplaces like OpenSea, which he claims has “like a 14-step process” that might be reduced to as little as three steps.

The company currently offers NFT embedding services, which let website owners integrate simple NFT purchasing and selling capabilities into their blogs or stores. Rarify is also developing a data API that will be able to track NFTs across several blockchains, verify a user’s NFT profile image, and estimate the worth of certain NFTs.

NFT is losing their craze

The investment in a new NFT company comes at a challenging time for the industry. The number of unique NFT purchasers on secondary markets fell by 12% in February, while search volume on Google has fallen by 60-70% since late January.

However, it’s possible that this is only a blip in the industry, as the market’s attention has recently switched to cryptocurrency use cases related to the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine. According to Forbes, four of Tsivtsivadze’s total 14 workers, including the head of engineering and chief technology officer, are currently based in Ukraine.