ArtistFirst Technology Inc, which runs music NFT marketplace FanTiger, on Wednesday said it has raised $5.5 million in a seed round led by Multicoin Capital. The round also saw participation from Krafton, Pravega Ventures, GAMA, Woodstock Fund, IOSG Ventures, Polygon Studios and individuals Sandeep Nailwal (Co-founder of Polygon), Gokul Rajaram (Board Member – Coinbase), Prashant Malik (Founder – Tykhe Block Ventures) and Miten Sampat (CRED).
Founded by Prashan Agarwal, ex-CEO of Gaana and co-founder of PropTiger, and Krishna Singh, FanTiger empowers Independent Artists to build fan communities on the platform and enable fans to help shape their career using music NFTs. Fans can buy music NFTs to get access to an exclusive Artist community, earn rewards and special privileges like exclusive behind the scenes content, meet-n-greet opportunities, backstage access etc. Artists can use the proceeds from the sale of music NFTs for song creation, studio production, music video, etc and also can commit upto a certain percentage of the royalty earned from the song to the fan community for marketing the song.
Prashan Agarwal, CEO and Cofounder of FanTiger, said, “The business of music should be to serve the best interests of Artists. With the advent of blockchain, music NFTs have the ability to disrupt the music industry, much like music streaming transformed music listening. FanTiger is at the forefront of this revolution to redefine the music industry by creating Artist-Fan relationships as has never existed before to give birth to a new era for Music. It will be the first time in history when Indian Artists will have a fanbase which is properly incentivized to market a song, which will create wonders in setting new milestones for song success. Our vision is to onboard 10 million users to our platform to own digital collectibles and supercharge the career of 100k artists”.
“The company plans to use the funds raised to grow its team across Product, Tech, extend industry partnerships and onboard well-known and aspiring Indian Artists”, Prashan further added.
Kyle Samani, Partner, Multicoin, added, “The FanTiger platform is uniquely positioned to grow the digital collectibles ownership in the music industry. We are excited to partner with Prashan, who brings vast experience of building the largest music streaming platform in India, to disrupt the music industry once again.”
“Music is one of the most exciting use cases for NFTs with a very high utility. Prashan’s experience as a repeat founder and music industry executive makes him the ideal person to transform the music industry in a way that empowers artists and their fans,” said Sandeep Nailwal, Cofounder of Polygon and Polygon Studios.
Ahead of FanTiger’s official launch, the company has opened an Early Access program for music fans on www.fantiger.com. The early access waitlist gives its most eager fans a chance to get exclusive benefits, like priority access to the launch of music NFTs, OG title, limited-edition merchandise, access to music concerts and more. The biggest pull to its early access waitlist is the jaw-dropping 5,000 free NFTs it plans to give away to its early members.
Prashan is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and ISB Hyderabad, and was most recently the CEO of Gaana, India’s largest music streaming service. Prior to that, he had cofounded PropTiger.com, India’s largest real estate transactions marketplace. Krishna Singh is a Computer Science Engineer from IIT Kanpur and brings 17+ years of experience heading technology for various organizations.
