Crypto payment MoonPay raises $87 million from Maria Sharapova, Justin Bieber, others

Crypto payments startup MoonPay has raised $87 million from more than 60 high-profile investors including singer Justin Bieber, rapper Snoop Dogg, tennis player Maria Sharapova and actor Bruce Willis as the role of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in content creation and fan engagement expands.

The investments are part of the firm’s Series A round, disclosed in November last year which valued the company at $3.4 billion, MoonPay said on Wednesday.

American Football – NFL – Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show – Cincinnati Bengals v Los Angeles Rams – SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California, United States – February 13, 2022 Snoop Dogg performs during the halftime show REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

More than 600 crypto startups have seen over $12.5 billion in venture capital funding so far this year, according to Alex McDougall, managing director at fund manager 3iQ Digital Assets.

Former tennis player Maria Sharapova attends The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment gala in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 8, 2021. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

MoonPay, which provides payment infrastructure for crypto and NFT transactions, expects content creators to increasingly use NFTs to market their work and engage with fans, chief executive officer Ivan Soto-Wright said.

Actor Bruce Willis attends the European premiere of “Glass” in London, Britain January 9, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo

NFT is a type of crypto asset that uses blockchain technology to record who owns a digital file, which could be an image, a video or a text.

Other investors in the company include rapper Aubrey Drake Graham and Adel Future Nur’s company Dreamcrew, Gwyneth Paltrow-led Kinship Ventures, Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary-backed venture capital firm Sound Ventures, singer Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd and his manager Amir Esmailian.

(Reporting by Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)