Softbank Group

Japanese Software Giant Line Plans to Launch NFT Market Next Month

24/03/2022 by Idelto Editor

The Japanese social media and messenger software firm Line Corporation has announced the company is introducing a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace on April 13. Line detailed on Wednesday that the market will be called “LINE NFT” and it will showcase “more than 100 types of NFTs.”

Japan’s Line Corporation to Launch LINE NFT Marketplace

In March 2021, Line Corporation completed a merger with Softbank Group, Yahoo Japan, and Z Holdings. The merged company aims to encompass the digital world from all aspects and last week, reports revealed Z Holdings was launching a global NFT marketplace that will operate in 180 countries. 13 days later, Line announced the company is also launching an NFT marketplace called “LINE NFT.” Line’s press release notes that the market will showcase more than 100 types of NFTs.

LINE NFT will launch on April 13, and LINE app users will be able to use the marketplace via the app, the company details. The LINE NFT launch will see participation from Nissy (Takahiro Nishijima), Yoshimoto Kogyo, and Square Enix. Moreover, the launch will see a Yoshimoto Kogyo Holdings limited edition NFT video dubbed: “Yoshimoto NFT Theater.” While LINE NFT will only operate in Japan, reports say that Z Holdings’ NFT marketplace called “DOSI” will launch worldwide on April 19.

Line NFTs to Be Stored via the LINE BITMAX Wallet

Line’s entry into the blockchain space is nothing new as the company launched “LINE Blockchain Lab” in 2018. Furthermore, a slew of well-known Japanese brands and companies have been entering the NFT industry, including the Japanese entertainment conglomerates Square Enix and Konami Holdings Corporation. This year, the Japanese online retail giant Rakuten plans to launch an NFT marketplace, and the firm also said Rakuten’s peer-to-peer NFT service will be ready in 2023.

Interest in non-fungible token (NFT) tech has dive-bombed in recent weeks and sales also took a dip in mid-February. However, last week NFT sales picked up the pace and improved by 17% from the week prior. Seven-day statistics indicate that sales are up 50.71% during the last week with $586,510,454 worth of NFT sales settled. While LINE app users will leverage the NFT marketplace, NFTs themselves will be stored via the company’s LINE BITMAX wallet.

What do you think about Japan’s Line Corporation launching an NFT marketplace in mid-April? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

NFT Fantasy Football Platform Sorare Raises $680 Million in Series B Led by Softbank

21/09/2021 by Idelto Editor

On September 21, the non-fungible token (NFT) fantasy football platform Sorare announced the company raised $680 million in a Series B funding round led by Softbank. The capital raise gives Sorare a new valuation of around $4.3 billion and the company plans to open a U.S.-based office.

Sorare Reveals $680M Capital Raise

Non-fungible token (NFT) assets have seen phenomenal growth this year and the company Sorare aims to tether the billion-dollar NFT industry to the multi-billion-dollar fantasy sports market. The market size of fantasy sports in the U.S. alone topped $8.4 billion in 2019.

On Tuesday, the NFT fantasy football platform Sorare revealed the company has raised $680 million in a Series B financing round led by Softbank. The latest Sorare capital raise saw participation from Atomico, Bessemer Venture Partners, D1 Capital, Eurazeo, IVP, and Liontree as well.

The capital raise is a milestone as it is one of Europe’s largest Series B funding rounds and the funds have propelled Sorare’s overall valuation to $4.3 billion today. In the announcement on Tuesday, the Sorare team said it plans to launch an office in the U.S. and “sign up the top 20 football leagues.”

Softbank: ‘Sorare Sits at the Intersection of Two Really Exciting Industries’

Sorare also has plans to expand into other types of sports and so far, the company has licensed players from 180 football teams, including Juventus, Real Madrid, and Liverpool. According to Sorare, the startup saw $150 million in cards swapped on the platform since January 2021.

“The number of monthly active paying Sorare users grew by 34X between Q2 2020 and Q2 2021, with quarterly sales increasing by 51X over the same period,” the company further highlighted in the announcement.

“Sorare sits at the intersection of two really exciting industries in digital collectibles and fantasy sports,” said Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International and COO of SoftBank Group. Claure added:

It’s evident from Sorare’s amazing growth this year alone that football fans around the world have been eagerly waiting for the ‘game within the game.’

Sorare is not the only NFT platform seeing a large multi-million-dollar capital raise in 2021, as a number of other NFT market platforms have been raising funds. The NFT market Rarible raised over $14 million and revealed plans to launch on the Flow blockchain.

Opensea raised $100 million at the end of July and became a unicorn company. Enjin obtained $20 million in a token sale for the Efinity NFT marketplace that supports the Polkadot blockchain. The Mark Cuban-backed NFT marketplace Mintable also gathered $13 million in a Series A funding round during the first week of July.

What do you think about the Sorare NFT platform raising $680 million in a Series B financing round? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Cryptocurrency and Stock Trading Platform Etoro Aims to Go Public Through a $10.4 Billion SPAC Deal

16/03/2021 by Idelto Editor

The online cryptocurrency and stock brokerage platform Etoro has announced the company is going public via a deal with a special purpose acquisition company called Fintech Acquisition Corp V. The Etoro merger is a $10.4 billion deal, backed by the banking entrepreneur and Fintech Acquisition Corp V chair Betsy Cohen.

Etoro Enters a Special Purpose Acquisition in a $10.4 Billion Deal

The popular cryptocurrency trading platform and stock brokerage service, Etoro, has plans to go public with a $10.4 billion merger. The merger was invoked by a firm called Fintech Acquisition Corp V, and investments also stem from the Japanese company Softbank and the finance manager’s Vision Fund 2.

The deal is a special purpose acquisition (SPAC) as it leverages the proceeds from an initial public offering (IPO) to take private firms to the public venue.

In addition to the merger with Fintech Acquisition Corp V, an acquisition business, the firms Fidelity Management & Research, and Wellington Management also added a $650 million common share private placement.

The recent announcement from Etoro, follows Coinbase’s attempt to go public this year and Kraken’s CEO Jesse Powell also disclosed his exchange is considering an initial public offering next year. The mining firm Northern Data AG is reportedly planning to go public as well with an estimated $500 Million IPO.

Competitor Etoro Plans to Join the Public Arena, While Robinhood Licks Wounds from the Wall Street Bets Fiasco

Because Etoro offers a stock brokerage service combined with options to trade cryptocurrencies, the firm is a competitor of Robinhood.

The online trading platform Robinhood has already held an IPO and more recently, the firm reportedly had to raise funds over the Wall Street Bets fiasco. On January 29, 2021, New York Times’ reporters detailed that Robinhood had to draw a line of credit from six banks.

Since 2007, Etoro has gathered roughly 20 million registered users who invest in digital currencies, stocks, and other traditional markets. According to Reuters, after the Etoro announcement “Fintech Acquisition Corp V’s shares jumped more than 15% before the bell.”

Additionally, Betsy Cohen is a well known businesswoman that has been known for participating in SPAC investments.

What do you think about Etoro announcing the company will go public via a merger worth over $10 billion. Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

GPU Manufacturer Nvidia Buys Chip Maker ARM for $40 Billion

18/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

California-based Nvidia is buying British computer chip designer Arm Holdings from Softbank Group Corp. in a deal worth $40 billion.

Chip giant Nvidia, which specializes in making hardware for video game consoles, GPUs for graphics cards, processors for the AI industry, and whose chips are utilized by the crypto mining sector among others, said in a press release that it would pay Softbank a combination of cash and shares in the transaction. The Japanese conglomerate bought Arm for $32 billion in 2016.

The latest deal is expected to create “the premier computing company for the age of artificial intelligence” (AI), according to Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia. He added that Arm would remain headquartered in Cambridge, England and retain its brand.

“We will expand on this great site and build a world-class AI research facility, supporting developments in healthcare, life sciences, robotics, self-driving cars and other fields,” said Huang.

The graphics processing units (GPUs) produced by Nvidia are mainly used in video game consoles and graphics cards but they have also been deployed to mine digital assets such as ethereum (ETH), monero (XMR) and zcash (ZEC). GPUs are now useless for mining bitcoin (BTC), which has moved on to more efficient application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners.

Arm’s technology is the backbone of most of the existing smartphone technology. The company creates designs that other companies such as Apple, Samsung Electronics and Huawei develop into customised chips. Its technology is also starting to gain ground in cloud data centers. To date, Arm says 180 billion chips have been made based on its designs.

Simon Segars, CEO of Arm, detailed: “By bringing together the technical strengths of our two companies we can accelerate our progress and create new solutions that will enable a global ecosystem of innovators.”

Under the terms of the transaction — approved by the boards of Nvidia, Softbank and Arm — Nvidia will pay Softbank $21.5 billion in stock and $12 billion in cash. At least $2 billion is payable at signing. Softbank may also receive up to $5 billion in cash or stock if certain targets are met. Nvidia will issue $1.5 billion in equity to Arm employees.

The deal gives Nvidia a way into mobile chips, but it is likely to face close scrutiny from regulators who might be concerned about issues around monopoly and conflict of interest. In the UK, several business executives have alreadh signed an open letter calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to stop the takeover.

Shares of Nvidia fell about 4% to $500.58 in Nasdaq stock market trading Wednesday before slipping further to $498.92 on Thursday. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has swung between a high of $589.07 and a low of $169.32. Nvidia boasts a market capitalization of over $340 billion.

Nvidia was established in 1993 and initially started off selling computer cards designed to improve the video game experience. It later expanded into other markets, including at least one foray into the cryptocurrency mining hardware business.

What do you think about the acquisition of Arm by Nvidia? Let us know in the comments section below.

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