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Although FTX collapsed<\/a> last week, raises their ventures team contributed to are still being announced.<\/p>\n Joepegs<\/a>, an NFT marketplace on the Avalanche blockchain, raised $5 million in a seed round led by now-defunct FTX Ventures and the Avalanche Foundation, its co-founders, who go by the pseudonyms Cryptofish and 0xMurloc, exclusively told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n \u201cThe funding from FTX Ventures was completed in June, and have since been transferred out of FTX prior to recent bankruptcy events,\u201d the team said in a statement.<\/p>\n The marketplace launched in May and has grown rapidly to the largest NFT marketplace on Avalanche with over $3.4 million in secondary NFT sales and 12,000 users. It also has an in-house production unit, Joe Studios, as well as an NFT Launchpad, which has onboarded over 50 projects to the Avalanche ecosystem, the company said.<\/p>\n The co-founders also founded and remain involved in the operations of Trader Joe,<\/a> a decentralized exchange on Avalanche (not to be confused with the American supermarket chain), which launched in early July 2021 and has a total trading volume over $88 billion.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we started building this, we realized very quickly that in order to deliver a platform that really helps users discover great NFTs we have to invest in a lot more platform capabilities so that\u2019s what the fundraise will go toward,\u201d 0xMurloc said. \u201cOn top of that, we also create a lot of content on our end. We did this at the start to fill a need. Marketplaces are only as good as the content in the ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n Joepegs also invests in the operational side, beyond Avalanche, to partner with different traders, projects and artists \u201cacross the ecosystem,\u201d 0xMurloc said. \u201cThat is something we do ferociously.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Avalanche dove further into the NFT space after partnering with the largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea,<\/a> which now operates on the blockchain alongside other platforms like Joepegs and Kalao. With about $408.2 million in total sales, Avalanche is the seventh-largest blockchain by NFT sales volume, CryptoSlam data<\/a> shows.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are focused on what is happening to the greater market,\u201d 0xMurloc said. \u201cYes, there are less people playing with crypto and the NFT market as a whole right now, but, we do see that the interest from creators, brands and projects to dive deeper into web3 and NFTs \u2014 that appetite is not softening.\u201d<\/p>\n There are a lot of companies, creators and artists who are \u201ceager to explore this form of commerce and community building,\u201d 0xMurloc added.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re very bullish on the future of NFTs and what it could bring,\u201d Cryptofish said. \u201cThe idea that you can have clothing backed by NFTs is very bullish. You see that with Azuki with their skateboards and Nike sneakers and we want to be on the forefront of NFT innovation with digital stuff and clothing.\u201d<\/p>\n As more alternative NFT products come out, NFT markets will have to adapt to accommodate, Cryptofish added. \u201cOur vision on NFT marketplaces will have to be like Amazon over time. Initially it was a bookstore and now they\u2019ve branched out to sell everything. That\u2019s how I see things going.\u201d<\/p>\n In the short term, the team plans to continue driving in-house content and has new collections coming up in the near future, 0xMurloc said.<\/p>\n \u201cLonger term, we want to branch into different flavors of NFTs and explore what Fish mentioned, whether it\u2019s fashion, physical merchandise or gaming. We\u2019re excited about what\u2019s to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n