Arcade Raises $15M in Series A Funding for NFT-Backed Loans

Arcade recently closed a $15 million Series A fundraising round to bring collateralized lending that connects non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to decentralized finance (DeFi), according to a CoinDesk report on Wednesday (Dec. 22).

Arcade will use the fresh capital to build products and add new employees, including in the legal department, to help the company better understand NFT-related regulations, Arcade Co-founder Gabe Frank told CoinDesk in an interview.

Cryptocurrency investor Pantera Capital, Castle Island Ventures, Franklin Templeton, BlockFi CEO Zac Prince and Quantstamp CEO Richard Ma were among the investors in Arcade’s Series A funding round.

Arcade appraises, validates and curates NFT collections for institutions, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and collectors. The company is “fully compatible with all ERC-20 tokens, including wETH, USDC and DAI,” according to the CoinDesk report.

Arcade’s Wrapped NFT technology allows NFTs to be bundled to secure one loan. The company is also an open-source DeFi primitive, meaning it allows developers to build on top of the platform.

“I started collecting NFTs and realized there was an infrastructure gap in terms of getting liquidity on these assets,” Frank told CoinDesk.

Arcade is emerging from a private release with $3.3 million in loan volume, which it secured on $10 million in assets on the Arcade platform.

Related news: 2021 is the Year of the NFT and Omnichannel Auction Houses

Meanwhile, 2021 was the year the NFT hit the mainstream and became another new acronym on everyone’s lips. Sotheby’s and Christie’s sold $65 million and $100 million NFTs, respectively, this year as auction houses looked to dive further into the sector by making deals over social media with buyers and getting NFTs from the artists who designed and executed them.

“I see Sotheby’s shifting from where people once bid at auctions to where people now make online purchases on Sotheby’s website,” noted PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster.

Online auction marketplace 1stDibs sells art, antiques, jewelry and NFTs. Its website urges visitors to “give uniquely” this holiday shopping season, including live auctions for NFTs such as a $39,606.40 video of a day-glow fish called “Summoning Circle.”