Cristiano Ronaldo sets a goal towards cricket NFT startup FanCraze investing $100 Million along with leading global investors. Cricket fans are a bit surprised as one of the world’s known popular Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo showing interest in digital cricket collectibles.

It is a pleasant surprise for all the cricket fans to see Ronaldo being from a Football background investing in digital cricket collectibles. Cristiano Ronaldo's firm CR7, together with a slew of renowned worldwide investors, is investing $100 million (about Rs 760 crore) in FanCraze, the city-based cricket NFT startup. This is likely to be one of the largest series-A fundraising rounds in Asia's NFT industry.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Investment to Fundraise Cricket NFT Startup

NFTs stand for Non-Fungible-Tokens, unique items that are stored on a Blockchain network, the network that usually runs Cryptocurrencies. NFT basically works as a tradeable Certificate that authenticates the ownership of digital art, memorabilia, or any fan merchandise.

Insight Partners, a New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm, as well as B Capital, Tiger Global, Coatue Management, Sequoia Capital India, and other investors, are said to be joining Ronaldo's company.

According to a source, "the funding will be utilized to integrate new sports alliances and to finance FanCraze's further growth of its Metaverse throughout the cricket landscape." FanCraze intends to expand its R&D lab, user experience team, game studio, and marketplace platforms, as well as its engineering, marketing, and customer service staff.

FanCraze Already Tiedup with ICC for Digital Collectibles

As an official digital collectibles partner, the firm has previously partnered with the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Cricket West Indies (CWI). FanCraze has also signed up leading Indian cricketers Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Cricket is one of the most devoted fan bases in the region. On the heels of live cricket, both tv and web streaming services took off, enabling category leaders to provide cricket fans with unique and exciting methods to tune in to all the action.

"There's a lot more coming in the next several weeks," a source stated. While football's most renowned Number 7 jersey is joining the FanCraze ecosystem, rumors are circulating that cricket's most famous Number 7 shirt is also expected to join the firm shortly.

What are NFTs?

Non-fungible Tokens, or NFTs, are non-transferable digital data units that are held on a Blockchain. NFTs are a type of digital ledger that can be sold and exchanged on the market. These NFTs are one-of-a-kind cryptographic tokens based on the Blockchain that cannot be reproduced. NFTs are utilized in the market to represent digital artworks of physical items that may be exchanged digitally. Because of its existence on Blockchain, it eliminates intermediaries and directly links creators with audiences. NFTs can reduce the need for middlemen, speed up transactions, and create new markets.