FC Barcelona, the renowned Spanish soccer club, has secured a significant investment of €120 million ($132 million) for its Web3 project, Barça Vision. The investment comes from Libero Football Finance AG, a German company providing financial consultation to soccer clubs, and Nipa Capital BV, a venture capital firm based in the Netherlands.
The investment deal involves FC Barcelona selling a 29.5% stake in Bridgeburg Invest, the holding company overseeing Barça Vision, in exchange for the substantial capital injection. Barça Vision is the football club’s strategic initiative to integrate various digital content aspects within the realm of Web3 and blockchain, including nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. This effort aligns with the club’s broader digital strategy aimed at developing the digital Espai Barça.
Libero Football Finance AG is a publicly traded entity in Germany that specializes in providing financial advisory services to soccer clubs. On the other hand, Nipa Capital BV operates as a venture capital firm from the Netherlands.
The transaction’s completion is contingent upon the approval of FC Barcelona shareholders, with the anticipated closing scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023.
FC Barcelona has already ventured into the blockchain and NFT space in recent years. Since February 2020, the club has collaborated with Chiliz, a blockchain platform, to create Ethereum-based FC Barcelona Fan Tokens (BAR) to engage its sports franchise fans.
In August 2022, Chiliz made headlines by purchasing a 24.5% stake in FC Barcelona’s digital content creation wing, Barça Vision, for a substantial $100 million.
The football club has also ventured into the world of NFTs. In May, it launched its inaugural NFT collection in partnership with Plastiks, offering 3,000 animal-themed NFTs aimed at contributing to environmental conservation. Notably, FC Barcelona auctioned off its first NFT, “Masterpiece #1 In A Way,” for $693,000 at Sotheby’s New York auction in July 2022. This was followed by the sale of “Masterpiece #2 – Empowerment” on OpenSea for $300,231 on June 28, 2023.
This new investment is expected to further propel FC Barcelona’s blockchain and NFT endeavors, positioning the club at the forefront of the digital transformation in the world of sports and entertainment.
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