Fuel, a Berlin, Germany-based technology startup aiming to become Shopify for NFTs, has raised €1.5M in pre-seed funding. The pre-seed round saw participation from investors including FintechCollective, Seedcamp, Notion Capital via Pioneers, Bitstamp CTO David Osojnik, Gumtree co-founder Michael Pennington and Indeed founder Paul Forster. The company plans to use the raised capital to expand operations and its business reach.
Founded by Csongor Barabasi, Thanh Binh Tran, Stefan Tietze and Patrice Deckert, the no-code NFT platform enables creators to create their own custom-branded NFT shop without any technical knowledge. They can launch, manage and grow their NFT collections using a wide range of tools integrated under the Fuel platform.
Talking about the potential of this segment, Stefan Tietze and Patrice Deckert, co-founders of FUEL, said, “Last year, $25 billion worth of NFTs were traded globally, up from $95 million in 2020, and artists like Steve Aoki, Nas, Grimes, and brands like Lamborghini entered the space. The art establishment also sees value in the space, with brokers like Sotheby’s entering the market.”
According to Csongor Barabasi, co-founder of FUEL, even though there has been a growing adoption, NFTs are still in an early phase. “Currently, the barrier of entry for creators is very high. The market has outgrown the basic sales functionality of aggregation platforms like OpenSea, and creators need more tools to succeed in the next phase,” he said.
The company is already working with “Tomorrowland-DJs Mat.Joe and several other yet-to-be-announced top artists and labels, aiming to launch several NFT drops in the next couple of weeks.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are non-exchangeable tokens or unique cryptographic tokens stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded. NFTs can represent real-world goods and these real-world tangible assets make them more efficient to buy, sell and trade, while reducing the potential for fraud.
