NFT ticketing platform Afterparty has raised $4 million from NFT enthusiast Paris Hilton and others in an unsolicited funding round.
NFT-focused startup Afterparty has raised $4 million from numerous investors to further develop its NFT ticketing platform, bringing the total amount raised so far to $7 million.
Notable investors in the project include Paris Hilton, Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff, Jason Calacanis, NBA star Andre Iguodala, “Project Runway” executive producer Desiree Gruber and Nicole Farb of venture capital firm Headline. Acrew Capital, Blockchange and TenOneTen Ventures – Afterparty’s lead seed investors – also joined the unsolicited funding round.
Afterparty is an all-in-one event organizer, and in March it organized the first NFT-ticketed music festival. The NFT tickets, known as the Utopians collection, were minted on Ethereum and feature numerous celebrity headliners, including Heidi Klum, Josh Duhamel, Sia and influencers David Dobrik, Loren Gray and Bryce Hall.
He also has an island called “Paris World” on the Roblox platform, where his visitors can observe digital replicas of his Beverly Hills home and his dog-friendly mansion.
Come find me in Neon Carnival at #ParisWorld in @Roblox now! 🎡✨😘https://t.co/TKop6GXTLl
— ParisHilton.eth (@ParisHilton) April 22, 2022
The Afterparty Music Festival in Las Vegas for Utopians headliners was headlined by electronic duo The Chainsmokers and rapper The Kid Laroi. It also featured performances by Sofi Tukker, Tokimonsta and Bob Moses, among others.
Second NFT collection
Now, Afterparty is preparing to launch its second NFT collection, Guardians, on Polygon, along with its NFT ticketing marketplace. Afterparty CEO and founder David Fields said:
“version 2 of its NFT marketplace will launch at Polygon sometime in May.”
Fields explained that the move to Polygon was in an effort to make buyer fees as low as possible and distinguish Afterparty from traditional platforms such as Stubhub and Ticketmaster, which have frustrated users with hefty transaction fees. (Ethereum’s mainnet fees have also been a complaint for many in the past.)
While Utopians and Guardians NFTs grant access to their respective events hosted by Afterparty, Fields sees the company moving more toward becoming a dedicated NFT ticketing platform rather than an all-in-one event host in the future.
“We took the approach of launching our own events one, to test the model on a large scale and two, to really build deep relationships but over time, we see ourselves building more of an experiential marketplace with concert ticketing being one,” said Fields
#Sliving at the #NeonCarnival in #ParisWorld 🎡💗✨ All her #BabyHiltons were going crazy for the Queen Herself @ParisHilton !!!🦄✨💓 So much fun also got to meet @MeganPlays for the first time! this was SO #Hot 🎊🎡🦄💖 #LovesIt #ThatsHot Great DJ Queen!!💗🎉🎵 pic.twitter.com/mv9y4HETXa
— Princess Pearl ✨ (@PearlEscenceMoo) April 22, 2022
Each Afterparty NFT grants the holder ownership of a piece of digital art, as well as admission to an upcoming event and other promised benefits. Afterparty’s NFTs also grant the holder future access to purchase tickets to future company events, so the NFTs also function as future pre-sale passes or “allowlists.”
For its upcoming event in Los Angeles in October, Afterparty has partnered with MoonPay to offer credit card payments for those who do not have cryptocurrency wallets and wish to pay with fiat for their Guardians NFTs.
Afterparty will offer flexible NFT custody to holders, meaning NFT owners can take full custody of their assets at any time and move them to their own wallets or cold storage if they wish.
“Our mission at Afterparty is really about giving creators the tools to realize their full potential with Web3,” Fields said.
But Fields also acknowledged that remain a niche asset and that many hobbyists will be new to crypto.
“Without 99.9% of those creators’ fans having a cryptocurrency wallet,” he said, “we’re kind of a long way from a world where NFTs can really be used to their full potential for creators, and we want to be part of the solution there.”
