Dapper Labs Raising At $7.5 Billion Valuation

Weeks after raising a massive round at a $2.6 billion valuation, Dapper Labs is back again with another monster round according to The Information. The round values Dapper Labs among the top 50 private startups.

Given the ongoing boom, it’s unsurprising to see one of the top players add money to their coffers. In the past week we’ve witnessed a slight softening in NFT prices as supply has flooded the market. NBA Top Shot, the largest project developed by Dapper Labs, has fallen to the second largest project following a surge in demand for CryptoPunks.

While Dapper has experienced wild success in recent months, it’s not clear whether or not that will correspond to their technology platform, Flow. Numerous projects have popped up to resolve the issue of surging gas prices and limited transaction volume on the Ethereum network.

In contrast to solutions like Polygon, Immutable X, and other layer two solutions, Flow has its own blockchain which is independent of Ethereum. This approach has left many skeptical of their platform. With Ethereum attracting the most robust developer community in the world of cryptocurrency, it’s tough for competing blockchains to achieve widespread adoption.

Ultimately, it’s the user experience that will be the driving force of NFT adoption. NBA Top Shot nailed that aspect but within limits. If you want to take your Top Shot NFT off the platform, good luck. The site is essentially a walled garden.

Regardless of criticisms there is no denying the success of Top Shot and Dapper Labs. As one of the original players in the world of NFTs with their CryptoKitties project, the company has remained its leadership position. Investors are clearly interested based on their latest round.

One thing is for certain: NFTs are here to stay.