FC Barcelona has not made a secret of wanting to create nonfungible token collections for much of the past year.
And now, they’ve secured a substantial 120 million euro ($132 million) investment from Libero Football Finance AG and Nipa Capital B.V. to fuel its Web3 initiative, Barça Vision.
By selling a 29.5% stake in Bridgeburg Invest, the entity behind Barça Vision, the club is set to accelerate its foray into the digital realm encompassing Web3, blockchain, NFTs, and the metaverse, aligning with the broader strategy to develop the digital Espai Barça.
Libero, a German publicly listed company specializing in financial consultancy for soccer clubs, and Nipa Capital, a Netherlands-based venture capital firm, have joined forces for this strategic investment.
The transaction, anticipated to conclude in Q4 2023, is contingent upon approval from FC Barcelona shareholders.
Having partnered with the Chiliz blockchain since February 2020, FC Barcelona ventured into the creation of Ethereum-based FC Barcelona Fan Tokens (BAR) for its sports franchise. This move was followed by Chiliz acquiring a 24.5% stake in Barça Vision for $100 million in August 2022.
Expanding its digital horizons, the football club launched its debut NFT collection in collaboration with Plastiks in May.
Titled “Unleash Your Passion,” this collection features 3,000 environmentally conscious animal-themed NFTs priced at $30 each, with proceeds dedicated to environmental conservation by removing 35,000,000 kilograms of plastic waste.
Demonstrating the growing NFT market’s potential, FC Barcelona achieved significant milestones in the NFT realm.
Notably, they auctioned the first piece of their NFT series, “Masterpiece #1 In A Way,” through Sotheby’s New York for an impressive $693,000 in July 2022. This success was further underlined by the recent sale of the second installment in the series, “Masterpiece #2 – Empowerment,” which fetched $300,231 on OpenSea in June 2023.