According to a recent report by TechCrunch, the Solana-focused NFT trading platform Tensor raised $3 million in a seed round led by Placeholder. Other investors in the round include Alliance DAO, Big Brain Holdings, Solana Ventures, and Solana co-founders Raj Gokal and Anatoly Yakovenko.
Tensor is a Solana-focused NFT trading platform founded by Richard Wu and Ilja Moisejevs in 2022. It offers advanced functionalities to traders, including collection-wide bids, market making orders, and TradingView integration. According to Moisejevs, it has about 30,000 monthly active users and has traded over $6.5 million in NFT volume.
Wu said the platform intends to “define the next meta for Solana NFTs,” and that while many Solana projects have simply imitated Ethereum, “Solana NFTs can be so much more.” He added that Tensor believes NFTs will be the “next trillion-dollar asset class,” and their goal is to provide the trading and technological infrastructure for the future.
In 2022, the three-person team at Tensor won about $60,000 to $70,000 from two Solana hackathons. Now, Tensor has crossed $1 million in annual run rate, which according to Wu is enough to cover expenses and then some.
Some have compared Tensor to the Blur marketplace, which recently stirred up noise in the NFT space by implementing a 0.5% creator royalty fee, which is very low. However, after experimenting with low creator royalty fees, Tensor has moved to a “fully enforced royalties standard.”
In response to the Blur comparisons, Tensor said the platform wants to become a “similar but different” version of Blur for Solana. For example, one important ethos for Tensor’s team is to align itself with its users “financially” and “motivationally,” and to treat users like collaborators, not customers.
There’s Been Several Successful Funding Rounds in 2023
The $3 million funding round is big news for Tensor and its users. But it’s not the only successful funding round we’ve seen in Web3 this year. At Rarity Sniper, we’ve written several articles about funding rounds for Web3 ventures recently. Here are the top stories.
First, in February, virtual reality learning platform Prisms VR raised $12.5 million in a Series A funding round led by a16z. The company focuses on improving student’s proficiency in math in the U.S. through the use of nascent technologies like VR and 3D experiences.
Also in February, Neopets, a classic game that debuted in 1999, completed a $4 million founding round led by Polygon Ventures. Neopets will use the funds to create a play-to-earn game where users can own Neopets NFTs and earn crypto through their gameplay.
Lastly, Abu Dhabi’s global technology ecosystem Hub71, just launched a new $2 billion fund for Web3 startups called “Hub72+ Digital Assets.” The fund, which has investments from Binance Labs, Ton Foundation, and Venom Foundation, will support startups from seed to unicorn stage.
Clearly there’s a lot of excitement in the Web3 space, as evidenced by the number of successful fundraising rounds. Only time will tell if Tensor can rise to become a top NFT trading platform. But for now, it appears the platform has secured the funds it needs to compete.