Copenhagen startup OWND recently secured $750,000 of pre-seed funds ahead of launching its fashion NFT platform.
Two Nordic VCs — byFounders and Skyfall — co-led the pre-seed round with participation from Steel DAO, a blockchain tech community funded by VC firm Bessemer Venture Partners.
OWND wants to stand out from fashion NFT competitors like OpenSea and Looksrare, which tend to use routine sourcing rather than curation to source digital collectable tokens.
The clothing NFTs that will be listed on OWND platform, set to launch April 2023, are handpicked by its team from major brands like Nike, Adidas and Gucci.
Customer benefits afforded by the NFTs include physical items, exclusive drops, in-person meetups and more. Ease of access is another factor, OWND NFTs can be bought using Apple or a credit card.
OWND co-founders Anker Bach Ryhl and Mads Lunau Liechti came up with the idea after finding crypto platforms had too many obstacles to actually getting off the ground.
Ryhl said: "Investing should be easy. You shouldn’t have to sign up for three different platforms and be an expert on all things crypto just to get started.
"Many would like to invest in NFTs, but they haven’t taken the leap yet due to the technical complexity of blockchain technology. OWND makes it as easy to buy a Nike NFT as it is to buy a Nike sneaker,”
Casper Bjarnason of byFounders added: "The previous cycle gave us a glimpse of the potential of NFTs, but with limited and speculative use
cases.
"We believe the next bull run in the space will be driven by utility and culture. There’s a huge potential in fashion where NFTs will have cultural significance and become core parts of people's digital and social identities."
"The internet native gen Z will mainly drive the adoption, and OWND is already deeply rooted in the space"
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