Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a venture capital firm, announced that it is heading a massive $50 million seed round for Gary Vaynerchuk’s NFT initiative, VeeFriends, signaling a bright spot in a challenging funding environment for firms specializing in digital assets. VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk introduced VeeFriends in May 2021. According to a Medium post, VeeFriends plans to use the seed money to grow its intellectual property (IP) of the 283 VeeFriends characters across physical and digital channels. The platform intends to hire new personnel as well. a16z Supports Developing Web3 Company General partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Lyons, tweeted more information on his business’s support of the “developing Web3 company.” Each cartoon animal, such as an “intelligent wasp” and a “kind gerbil,” was hand-drawn by Vaynerchuk in the doodle art style and given a particularly human characteristic. A limited edition UNO deck has seventeen of these characters. gm! I'm very excited to announce that @a16z crypto is leading a $50M round in @veefriends. We look forward to helping the team fuel expansion plans for its creative, technical and experiential operations that support the growing Web3 community! https://t.co/p2KN3SPMGT — chrislyons (@ChrisLyons) July 28, 2022 Some “important traits for mankind,” such as tolerance, patience, and sincerity, were found by Lyons to be motivating to the neighborhood. Each token entitles the bear...
