Published on: 20/06/2022
Crypto art platform Outland announces seed round funding success, raises $5 million from VC firms
Los Angeles-based crypto art platform Outland has announced the success of its first seed round after raising $5 million in funding. The funding came from venture capital firms such as OKG Ventures, IMO Ventures, Dragon Roark, and JDAC Capital.
Outland has yet to announce its next move. However, by looking at the platform’s series of NFT projects and overall commitment since its launch earlier this year, Outland will likely be working on fostering discourse towards “a future-facing art world.”
“’NFT art’ of the medium-specific variety has been a major focus of the conversations and criticism published on Outland so far,” Outland editor-in-chief Brian Droitcour wrote.
Outland’s previous NFT projects
Outland announced that the platform was likely to release more NFTs.
“It is a time of uncertainty and unease, but we truly believe the journey to explore is just getting started and so are our investors,” Outland wrote.
The platform, which was founded in February this year, has been actively “fostering critical conversations” about NFTs and cryptocurrencies through projects, collaborations, and editorial posts.
The LA platform managed to captivate the attention of crypto and traditional art enthusiasts shortly after it was launched.
Outland releases Elemental with Fang Lijun
Elemental is an NFT collection made in collaboration with Fang Lijun, a Chinese contemporary artist. The release saw major success for the platform.
According to multiple reports, Elemental garnered over 4,000 ETH and ended up with both primary and secondary sales positions in OpenSea’s top charts.
Outland Partners with James Jean for Adrift
Two months after Outland was released, the platform rolled out its second NFT project collaboration, Adrift, made in collaboration with Taiwanese-American artist James Jean. Adrift has a heavy emphasis on narrative, iterative, and interactive works.
Adrift resulted in the birth of 7,000 editions of a PFP collection that were sold out within five minutes into their public sale, with transaction value reaching 3,700 ETH.
Upcoming release
Reportedly, Outland will be announcing a second collaboration with Jean on a separate website. The company said it would soon provide more information on the project.
Outland will also be working on its first large-scale NFT release, 3FACE, made in collaboration with New York-based artist Ian Cheng. Previously, Cheng participated in the Venice Biennale and displayed his work in quite a number of solo exhibitions at famous art institutions, including London’s Serpentine Gallery and MoMA PS1 in New York.
Despite being relatively new in the market, Outland is widely regarded to provide well-tailored and outstanding insights about “NFT art”.
“The NFT market has become a site of support for conceptual practices in a time when the world of museums and galleries favors figurative painting, documentary photography and video, sculptural assemblage,” Droitcour added.
“Maybe the tendency to disregard or misunderstand “NFT art” has something to do with conceptual art being out of fashion. I’m excited that Outland is helping create a context for understanding this work.”
Founded by a lineup of curators, critics, and experts, the NFT platform seeks to establish more collaborative opportunities in the Web3 space.
