Private equity firm Silver Lake is leading a $150 million funding round for Genies, according to a report by the New York Times’s DealBook. This latest funding round values the company at $1 billion, minting its status as a unicorn startup.
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\”We’re just trying to invest in the very best technology companies,\” Silver Lake co-chief executive Egon Durban told DealBook. \”Sometimes it’s a small company like this, and other times it’s huge, large companies that need to be transformed.”
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Genies allow users to create virtual avatars that can be used in the metaverse, with accessories that can be purchased as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The company has partnered with record labels such as Warner Music Group and Universal to create avatars and NFT-gated digital goods for artists such as Justin Bieber, Migos and Cardi B.
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Most recently, former Disney CEO Bob Iger joined the company’s board alongside investing in the company. This followed a number of traditional media companies taking steps to onboard people to lead metaverse efforts, such as Spotify and YouTube.
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This isn’t the first web3 investment for Silver Lake. It previously led an investment round into crypto infrastructure company Alchemy at a valuation of $10.2 billion.
Source: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/141585/nft-avatar-company-genies-raises-150-million-from-silver-lake?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss