Freeverse.io raises €10M to lead the charge for a fairer model of digital ownership

Earlybird Venture Capital and Target Global led the Series A round for Freeverse, which offers next-generation, ‘Living Asset’ NFTs.

Freeverse.io today announced a Series A investment round of €10M, co-led by Earlybird and Target Global, alongside existing investors Adara Ventures and 4Founders Capital. Freeverse’s service allows companies to build products that feature next generation NFTs – ‘Living Assets’.

In 2021, NFT sales catapulted to over $20bn, as both business and end-users came to understand the enormous potential that is unlocked by blockchain-certified digital ownership. Freeverse’s core product is a platform that allows companies (such as brands, game developers, or other content creators) to add a crucial new layer to their products: the ability of NFTs to change and evolve based on how they are used by their owners. As a result, how the NFT is used has a greater effect on its value than merely its rarity or scarcity.

One of the main criticisms of the digital collectibles boom is that the market value relies purely on speculation – with consumers buying ‘rare’ digital assets with the sole intention of selling them on while hoping for a profit. Freeverse’s product and technology offers a way out of this situation, by allowing NFT properties to change and evolve. With Freeverse, the Metaverse will be populated with assets that capture the value provided by their owners’ effort and talent using them, instead of just scarcity and speculation.

“While 2021 may have been ‘the year of the NFT’, NFTs that can be changed by their owners, such as Freeverse’s Living Assets provide a more sustainable business model for the sector, as their market value is not decided by artificial concepts of scarcity,” commented Dr. Christian Nagel, Partner and Co-founder at Earlybird.

“The infrastructure the Freeverse team has built addresses the limitations that NFTs have today, including the ability for brands to protect their brand equity. They’ve come up with a contrarian approach to other purely decentralized plays – but one that we believe is necessary for mass adoption of NFTs”, added Lina Chong, Investment Director at Target Global.

Alongside Earlybird and Target, existing investors Adara Ventures and 4Founders Capital, as well as global digital media giant, OneFootball, are joining the round. Notable angels include international football star Mario Götze, Travelperk CEO Avi Meir, OneFootball CEO Lucas von Cranach, and Maex Ament, Co-founder of Taulia and Centrifuge.

Freeverse will use the investment to fund a strong go-to-market push, as well to continue the development of the product and core technology. “Living Assets represent the way forward for digital ownership in the metaverse and beyond”, explained CEO Alun Evans. “The fact that Living Assets are valued more by how they are used, as opposed to simple speculation, means that they enable a fairer and more sustainable business model for both companies and consumers. As such, we expect our approach to become a core component within the emerging web3 sector.”