OpenSea has become the latest crypto unicorn after it announced a $100 million Series B funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, valued at $1.5 billion.
Unicorn status is attributed to companies valued at over $1 billion, and OpenSea now joins a long list of cryptocurrency unicorns such as Coinbase, Animoca Brands and Chainalysis, to name a few.
The fundraising included participation from hedge fund and private equity firm Coatue, as well as support from the likes of former Walt Disney CEO Michael Ovitz, actor Ashton Kutcher and NBA star Kevin Durant.
In a July 20 blog post, along with a $100 million funding round, OpenSea also officially announced support for an expanded blockchain, starting with a "gasless" marketplace on Polygon, Ethereum's Layer 2 scaling solution.
"Buyers no longer have to pay blockchain fees when transacting on OpenSea, and for the first time, developers can fully monetize crypto," the company revealed.
According to TechCrunch, OpenSea also plans to extend support to Dapper Lab's Flow blockchain along with Tezos in the future.
The latest funding round shows significant growth for one of the top NFT marketplaces in the industry and follows a $23 million Series A funding round in March , which was also led by Andreessen Horowitz .
OpenSea has not specifically confirmed where the funds will go, but the Forbes report said the funds will be used to grow the team, build further cross-chain support and improve the user experience. Kathryn Haun, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, will also join OpenSea's board of directors.
