Concept Art House: $25M to create NFT Art
Fabric Ventures joins a syndicate of investment and strategic partnerships in funding Concept Art House’s Crypto Art House division.
NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens) represent a massive commercial opportunity on the blockchain, while simultaneously decentralising and democratising how digital art, and IP in general, is bought and sold. As the average consumer of NFT collectibles shifts from crypto whales to the mass market, traditional IP holders are racing to figure out how NFTs can be leveraged for new distribution channels, to connect directly with fans, and to let collectors be the sovereign bearers of their own assets: be it luxury brands like Gucci’s sneaker Garage, sports franchises like Dodger’s MLB collection, or artists like Damien Hirst’s The Currency. Increasingly licenses are also being “spliced” into specific usages (such as for merchandising or game play etc…) to create multiple opportunities for monetisation. However, whilst it is relatively easy to launch and sell some NFTs, it is far more difficult to create lasting value and engagement.
Through our portfolio companies at Fabric Ventures, we have already seen how companies such as Sorare successfully leverage traditional sports IP into the blockchain world and also how reward mechanisms can create network effects that are more powerful than anyone expected, as seen with Axie Infinity growing from $670k Monthly revenue in April to $364 million in August. And we have seen how scalable infrastructure is being developed to support the next generation of these applications, e.g. Fabric’s portfolio company Immutable X, as well as our ecosystem partner Flow from Dapper Labs. The obvious question is who will build them? Or more specifically, whom will brands really trust to handle their treasured IP with silk gloves?
The answer is not simply who pays the highest minimum guarantee, even with inflation clearly a factor on the back of mega funding rounds. Instead, the message we continued to hear on reference calls was that the number one selection criteria for a licensor of IP was based first and foremost on evidence of production quality and project management. Add to that a deep experience of how to navigate the increasingly complex world of IP “splicencing” and relationships with the many IP stakeholders.
Concept Art House, is a renowned game art studio that has serviced just about every well known game developer active today with outstanding quality of delivery: Activision-Blizzard, EA, King, Epic Games, Bethesda, Zynga, to name just a few. Concept Art House sit at the intersection of gaming, art and IP: Their connections within the game industry, expertise in art design (a core component of most collectible NFTs), and presence within the web3 ecosystem make them an ideal candidate to forge their new NFT division, Crypto Art House, into a premier developer for the next wave of blockchain games and digital art drops.
The long-standing team, led by founder James Zhang, is both proven and trusted in their previous creative endeavours, something we at Fabric have had the privilege to see firsthand through prior work collaborations. New joiners, such as Rob Winkler, bring decades of experience heading up games divisions at Scopely, 5th Planet Games and launching hit games both with IP (The Walking Dead, Christiano Ronaldo) and without (Dawn of Dragons).
This approach is already reaping rewards as they have been selected to develop the upcoming UFC game on Flow. In addition to game development and publishing under rockstar IP, they continue to exercise their own creative muscles: producing assets for the Kolectiv marketplace on Immutable X, in addition to officially licensed Olympic NFTs, and Frank Miller’s Sin City 30 year anniversary.
For this investment round, that we have the privilege to join, James has brought together an impressive and influential syndicate of investment and strategic partnerships, including Dapper, Animoca Brands, Gala Games and influential angels such as Steve Aoki, Jeff ‘Jiho’ Zirlin (Axie-Infinity),Gabby Dizon (Yield Guild Games), Vinny Lingham (Civic), and Kevin Lin (Twitch). This set of relationships has been moulded together by James, to create the characteristics of know-how, proven success, quality work, professionalism, and trust which traditional IP holders look for in an IP partner. At Fabric, many of us spent our early (and indeed latter) years immersed in video games and so we are chomping at the bit to get our hands (or rather web3 wallets) on what visual designs Crypto Art House comes up with, not to mention playing the games that they produce.
