May 11, 2023
By Sharan Kaur Phillora
The Hong Kong-based Web3 company Artifact Labs announced the completion of a funding round, raising $3.25 million. The round was led by Blue Pool Capital, a fund managed by the founders of Alibaba, Jack Ma, and Joe Tsai. Animoca Ventures also participated in the round.
Here’s what we know:
Artifact Labs was initially incubated by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), which spun off its NFT business into a new firm last year. In 2021, the SCMP launched a non-fungible token (NFT) standard called ARTIFACT for recording historical data.
The newspaper sold NFTs of its historical front pages, including the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the Avian flu outbreak, the Asian Financial Crisis, and the death of the U.K.’s Princess Diana – under the #theinvitationhk on Twitter.
Phillip Pon, CEO of Artifact Labs says the company aims to “carve new space in the younger public’s consciousness for historical brands & artifacts” while also supporting important organizations with new revenue streams to fund their preservation work.
According to a Tweet, the company plans to release NFT collections as a revenue stream for preservation organizations while developing and releasing technology to help institutions preserve their archives on-chain. NFTs provides a unique way to record historical events and artifacts, allowing for a permanent record that cannot be altered or deleted.
The successful funding round is a testament to the growing interest in Web3 and blockchain-based solutions. As more organizations and individuals recognize blockchain technology’s potential, we will likely see more innovative projects like Artifact Labs emerge.
About the author
Sharan Kaur Phillora’s thirst for knowledge has led her to study many different subjects, including NFTs and Blockchain technology – two emerging technologies that will change how we interact with each other in the future. When she isn’t exploring a new idea or concept, she enjoys reading literary masterpieces.
