Preparing for Unlocking? Dapper Labs Continues Fundraising and Strategic Partnerships, Announces Acquisition of Virtual Influencer Company Brud

The developer of NBA Top Shot, Dapper Labs, announced the acquisition of the virtual influencer company Brud, and launched a new project called "Dapper Collective." This project will focus on assisting the Flow blockchain in establishing a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), led by Brud's founder Trevor McFedries.

Virtual Influencer Company Brud

Brud is best known for its virtual influencer Lil Miquela. Lil Miquela, a 19-year-old girl from Los Angeles, is a virtual KOL created by an engineering team using AI technology. She has 3 million followers on Instagram and 1.28 million on Facebook.

According to a press release, the acquisition amount was not disclosed. The 32-person team at Brud will join Dapper Labs. Brud had previously launched the social platform "Friends with Benefits" on Ethereum and issued the social token FWB.

Roham Gharegozlou, CEO of Dapper Labs, stated in the announcement:

Before CryptoKitties, we've been following Brud's developments in virtual KOLs and the metaverse space. We are impressed by Brud founder Trevor McFedries' significant contributions to the decentralized field, including building the $FWB DAO on Ethereum.

Previously, the FWB token was hacked, so the team reissued "FWB Pro" based on the pre-attack user token holdings. The token price has risen from 6.1 in July to the current $126, but its market ranking is only at 3,457.

Dapper Labs Focuses on Decentralized Governance

Brud will continue to manage the daily operations of virtual influencer Lil Miquela, while founder Trevor McFedries will lead a new project called "Dapper Collectives" to assist the Flow blockchain in establishing decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

Dapper Labs emphasizes that Brud's daily operations will have complete independence while relying on Dapper Labs' infrastructure and related support.

Dapper Labs Continues Fundraising and Strategic Partnerships

Dapper Labs announced on 9/22 that it completed a $250 million fundraising, with rumors suggesting its valuation has reached $7.6 billion. It also announced a partnership with the Spanish professional football league LaLiga to launch a football market on Flow.

Additionally, the sports business magazine "Sports Business Journal" revealed that the NFL will collaborate with Dapper Labs to launch an NFT market for American football.

From recent operations, it is evident that Dapper Labs is actively creating more application scenarios for its Flow blockchain to accommodate upcoming public token unlocks.