NFT Gaming Company Going IPO

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Mark Kennedy & Manuel Olumorin
February 15, 2023

GM GM. This is Lootbox, the NPC who always keeps you in the know. And don't worry, we promise not to sell you any knockoff handbags...

In our inventory today

  • Hermès Fashion House wins IP case over Birkin Bag NFTs

  • An NFT company is going public

  • The Sneakies - How a16z invests in the crypto space

The Battle For IP Rights In Web3 Is Heating Up

Can't say we didn't see this one coming... 🤦‍♀️

There has been a ruling against the Birkin Bag NFT project for violating IP rights.

So, here's what's happening...

Mason Rothschild, an artist and entrepreneur, was recently sued by luxury fashion house Hermès for selling digital versions of its famous Birkin bags.

Everything we know about the lawsuit

  • Hermès claimed that Rothschild's actions violated their trademark rights, while Rothschild claimed that he should be protected by free expression, similar to how Andy Warhol's paintings of Campbell's soup cans were protected.

  • The judge wasn't having Rothschild's argument and cited text messages that described the operation as a "pump and shill" for "whales". This dude couldn't help himself huh?

  • On February 8, the federal jury passed judgment after a week-long trial, ruling that Rothschild was operating unlawfully and profiting off the iconic nature of the company's products, damaging the company's ability to release its digital products in the future.

  • Hermès won the lawsuit and was awarded US$133,000 in damages.

NFT Company Going Public

We have seen crypto exchanges go public... Coinbase

We have seen public companies play with crypto and NFTs... Nike, Adidas, Starbucks

Now we are seeing an NFT company go public, IPO. (the stock market like NYSE, NASDAQ).

The company is called NFT Gaming Company, Inc. - very original

Here's what we know about NFT Gaming Company and the IPO

  • NFT Gaming Company is developing a digital gaming platform for its games and that of third-party developers.

  • They have plans to acquire, develop and manage conventional digital games and combine them with web3 features like minting in-game assets as NFTs.

  • A community that will allow players to mint unique avatars in the form of NFTs, making them playable in all the games on the platform is also on the cards.

  • The IPO process began with their S1 filing on October 14, 2022. Now that the company has received approval to list its common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market, it will be trading under the symbol “NFTG,” starting February 15, 2023.

  • They are issuing 1,686,747 shares of common stock priced at $4.15 per share, raising approximately $7 million for the company.

  • The offering is expected to close on or about February 17, 2023, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

  • Laidlaw & Company (UK) Ltd. and Revere Securities LLC are taking charge of the process as the joint book-running managers for the offering.

Our take

NFTG just broke the dam...

Is this a good thing? We'll find out soon enough. If they execute and deliver on their promise, this could become a path for some projects. If they bomb like many SPACs, yikes, it would be a rough ride for all things NFT.

One thing we can predict is, we will likely see more of this happening in the next 6-24 months as projects look for other ways to go public apart from tokens.

The Sneakies

Dev Of The Week

The devs at EtherOrcs are halting the development of their game, and their approach to doing is what we can all learn from. Dive into the tweet thread to learn what they did.

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