UnicornDAO bags $4.5 million to empower female, LGBTQ and NFT initiatives
- ByStartupStory | May 21, 2022
UnicornDAO, a digital art initiative, has secured $4.5 million from a diverse group of investors, including musicians Sia and Grimes, and NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens) personalities such as Beeple and Gary Vaynerchuk, Indian Web 3.0 startup Polygon, Yuga Labs, and others.
UnicornDAO was founded in 2021 by Russian social activist Nadya Tolokonnikova to support NFT initiatives headed by women and LGBTQ artists. Tolokonnikova began her activism with the Pussy Riot music and art collective. The group has gained global fame, notably on social media, for their outspoken criticisms of Russia’s political and religious leadership, as well as the subsequent persecution by the government.
Tolokonnikova was recently involved in Web3 activism, as a member of the UkraineDAO, which raised funds for the country’s war effort by selling an NFT of the Ukrainian flag for $6.75 million in March 2022.
MoonPay, World of Women, Tribute Labs, Quantum, Flamingo DAO, The LAO, Wave Financial, Collab Currency, Polygon, and Big Sky Partners, as well as digital artist Mike Winkelmann (better known as Beeple) and recording artist Sia, are among those who have contributed to the fund. UnicornDAO has spent $1.4 million on works by under-represented groups in Web3 so far.
Tolokonnikova said that the firm is focusing on Web3 artists right now, but it would like to work with other traditional art genres in the future. Since all of the curators are people they have met in the last year of the cryptocurrency journey. The company’s ethos is the same as Pussy Riot’s, which has been bringing equality and joy to marginalised communities for over ten years.
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