Investors include Brevan Howard Digital, Big Brain Holdings, Foundation Capital, Republic Capital and other crypto-native investors in an oversubscribed round to bring digital asset technologies to billions of mainstream users. B+J Studios' first product, the NFT Super-App Cupcake, debuted an easy-to-use NFT experience at iconic festival Lollapalooza, demonstrating mass market excitement and demand for a simple and secure mobile-based NFT experience.
B+J Studios ("the Company"), the 0 to 1 builder studio developing world class blockchain-based solutions for mainstream consumer and institutional-grade use cases, closed an oversubscribed $10 million Series A funding round with participation from Brevan Howard Digital, Big Brain Holdings, Foundation Capital, Starting Line, Republic Capital, Solana Labs executives and other crypto-native investors.
Founded by two software engineers hailing from Solana Labs and multi-national hedge fund Citadel, B+J Studios is onboarding billions into crypto through infrastructure that prioritizes a seamless user and customer experience. Fortune 500 brands and creators can leverage B+J Studios' technology across experiential, commerce, content, and gaming use cases to connect with users in digital and physical environments.
"This is the future of NFTs,"
said Jordan Prince, Co-Founder of B+J Studios.
"NFTs should be easy and fun while providing value for individuals, creators, brands, and developers. By bridging the physical and digital worlds with NFTs, we're bringing unlimited new possibilities to get NFTs into the hands of billions of people in ways that haven't been possible before."
B+J Studios' first product, the NFT Super-App Cupcake, simplifies the complex technical restrictions and lengthy setup processes typical of acquiring NFTs for the first time, and eliminates gas fees for users. Users create a digital asset wallet and mint their first NFT in under one minute via encrypted near-field communication technology (NFC) on mobile devices through Sprinkles, Cupcake's secure NFC tags, which are paired with smart contracts.
The successful rollout of Cupcake NFTs at Lollapalooza shows the demand for easy, digital interactions which enhance the in-real-life fan experience. In under one minute, users are able to create a crypto wallet and mint an NFT with no prior technical experience required. To achieve rapid onboarding, Cupcake incorporates a NFC non-custodial web-based wallet and meta transactions. Lollapalooza attendees went on a treasure hunt to collect NFTs, which were redeemed for backstage passes, merchandise, and NFT-gated access to special creator/fan experiences.
"Cupcake opens up new ways for fans and creators to connect with each other,"
said Jordan.
"Brands and artists foster a direct relationship with their fans, establishing an ongoing digital engagement channel between organizers and attendees. Fans can get physical goods like clothing embedded with Cupcake Sprinkles which prove ownership, provenance, and authenticity through the blockchain, but this is just the start."
The NFTs for Cupcake at Lollapalooza were built on Solana, the only blockchain built for mass adoption. Solana is fast, inexpensive, and energy efficient – each transaction on Solana uses the equivalent energy of only three Google searches.