OneFootball, a German football media app, has raised $300 million in a funding round to expand the company’s presence on Web3 and develop new features on its platform. Liberty City Ventures, which led the round, as well as blockchain platforms and venture capital firms, including Animoca Brands and Dapper Labs, are known to have contributed to the funding.
OneFootball and NFT company Animoca Brands have formed a joint venture called OneFootball Labs, according to Thursday’s announcement. The new platform “will enable clubs, leagues, federations and players to provide digital assets and fan-centric experiences powered by blockchain technology.” Moreover, the digital experience of fans will be simplified – collecting digital tokens will be possible using only email and a debit card.
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Animoca Brands will develop the blockchain, NFT, games and metaverse to help the OneFootball Labs app provide fans with new products and services that will grow the digital fandom, thereby generating new revenue streams for the football industry.
“We believe that the future of football off the stands and off the field will be decentralized and built on Web3, returning ownership of data and digital assets to fans,” said OneFootball CEO Lucas von Cranach.
In turn, Murtaza Akbar, managing partner of Liberty City Ventures, noted that OneFootball’s 100 million monthly active users provide an opportunity to use the benefits of blockchain technology for the mass community of football fans.
Increasing levels of engagement and ownership of virtual items are some of the most prominent features of the metaverse. OneFootball is arguably using both to provide more fans with greater access to what they call “the beautiful game.”
Meanwhile, some football clubs in Europe are also entering the metaverse. Earlier this year, Premier League champions Manchester City FC signed a deal with Sony to provide technology, including Hawk-Eye, to develop their metaverse experience. Neighboring Manchester United also entered the Web3 ecosystem after partnering with Tezos, which was announced on February 10th.
