Strive, an upcoming web3 startup in the NFT space has raised $500K in pre-seed funding from a host of leading investors, including 100X.VC, Anupam Mittal, Let’s Venture, GrowX ventures, Amey Mashelkar (Jiogennext Fund), Saurabh Agarwal (founder, Zebpay), Sandhya Patel, YPO, and a clutch of prominent angel investors from YPO. The funding comes as Strive prepares to launch its marketplace and exchange for fractionalizing blue-chip NFTs for retail investors. Founded by Kartik Mehrotra and Swathi Perumala, Strive is on a mission to give the bottom 95% of crypto holders and web3 users access to high-quality NFTs that are typically accessible to the top 5% of wealth holders.
Speaking about the pre-seed funding, Kartik Mehrotra, CEO, and Co-founder of Strive, said, “With the support of our investors, we’re excited to move forward with building an exchange that will make it possible for everyone to invest in blue-chip NFTs. Our goal is to provide access to high-quality NFTs such as BAYC that have traditionally been out of reach for most people in the space. We believe fractionalizing these NFTs can make them more accessible and democratize this space.”Ninad Karpe, partner, 100X.VC said, “Strive offers a unique yet essential product for retail investors in the crypto market.
Strive’s marketplace will help increase the liquidity of NFTs and make it easier for people to buy and sell NFTs in the broader market with an additional focus on risk diversification, faster ROI, and higher buying conviction. We look forward to the platform’s growth in the NFT training and investing ecosystem.”
Sandhya Patel, executive director, Meghmani Pharma, representing YPO, said, “Strive is on a mission to make web3 more accessible to the masses and this is something we deeply support. We have seen them successfully build a large community of over 100k+ web3 learners and are confident in their ability to leverage this community in making NFTs a mainstream asset class for GenZ and millennials.
Having already proved themselves in successfully generating $1.3mn from nft sales revenue, we’re excited to see them launch their product this quarter and onboard their existing and new user base. They seem to be well on their way to generating $4m+ in revenue by the end of this year positioning them as the leading fractional nft player by earnings and user base. We look forward to continuing to back them in their journey to make nfts an easy investment for the next generation of investors.”Strive has realized that the current NFT marketplaces are only accessible to those who can afford to invest large sums of money, typically upwards of Rs. 1 lakh. Several blue-chip NFTs can range from lakh to crore, making it an unaffordable and risky asset class for retail investors. This, coupled with poor asset class liquidity, has kept most retail investors at bay.
Furthermore, millennials and Gen Z are the biggest users of NFTs but don’t have the same level of disposable income and lack the capital to invest in blue chip NFTs. Strive is solving this problem by making them available to retail investors with as little as Rs. 1000. It will allow more people to invest in NFTs and help grow the NFT market. Strive also runs live courses on Web3 to build literacy among users. It has 75K+ users who have attended the live classes, and over 100k+ Web3 users globally are on the waitlist to join its NFT marketplace.