Something new in the French Web3 ecosystem. Exclusible, a young shoot founded by French people and based in Lisbon, has just completed a funding round of 5 million dollars. The company has thus acquired Polycount, an American development studio specializing in the design of metaverses and virtual reality experiences.
But who is this company that, in the middle of a bear market, manages to sell NFTs in a few hours? This is the question we asked ourselves last June when we first heard about Exclusible. The Franco-Portuguese start-up was talked about as part of a high-end real estate virtual.
On June 12, the NFT marketplace put up for sale luxurious apartments in its metaverse. 5000 “Luxury Penthouses” of 500 m², offering breathtaking views of Paris, New York, Las Vegas, Dubai, and other major cities. The NFT penthouse, minted on the Ethereum network, even gave access to a private helicopter to fly over the surrounding landscapes.
A project that Thibault Launay’s teams had set up in partnership with the Americans of Polycounta studio that has notably created a metaverse called SpatialXR. The project was a real success: more than 25,000 bidders, for only 5,000 pied-à-terre! Among the clients, a majority of companies and luxury brands wishing to organize parades and other types of receptions in Web3.
The new luxury standard is coming in the form of an #NFT drop on June 18th.
It’s time for you to join the @exclusible Penthouse experience, in @spatialxrand enjoy the stunning designs by @Polycount_io and many utilities.Check the video and tweets below 👇 pic.twitter.com/QKRGhiNPDS
— Exclusible (@exclusible) June 9, 2022
After several months of paid partnership, Exclusible et Polycount announced their merger. The Franco-Portuguese buy the American studio, for an amount that has not been disclosed. The team will grow from 33 to 49 people. Michael Potts, CEO of Polycount, said in the statement the significance of this merger:
“The Polycount team has established itself as one of the best providers of creative solutions for the metaverse. Exclusible, leader in NFT/metaverse development for the luxury industry, is an ideal partner; it allows us to bring together two excellent teams of talented and innovative experts in the metaverse space, Web 3.0 and XR. Their combined efforts will set the standard for activations and experiences in the metaverse. »
Crypto-assets are a risky investment.
A fundraising of 5 million dollars to complete the acquisition of Polycount
In parallel with the takeover of Polycount, Exclusible completed a round table of 5 million dollars. A fundraising carried out with well-known private equity funds (White Star Capital, Tioga Capital) but also with business angels such as Stanislas de Quercize (former CEO of Cartier) and Tad Smith (former CEO of Sotheby’s).
This is the second trick for Exclusible, after a first round table of 2,2 millions buckled in August 2021. Tioga Capital and White Star Capital also participated in this initial financing, which notably enabled the young company to launch its NFT-platform aimed at businesses.
Between the fundraising in August 2021 and the one that has just been completed, the start-up has succeeded in several interesting projects.
👉🏻 La collection “Let There Be Light” for the car manufacturer Alpine. A collection of NFT around its flagship model, the A110. For the occasion, Alpine called on the artistic collective Obvious to create a A110 Sastruga. The collection will be open to the public on 1is next November on the Exlusible site, but has already brought together more than 30,000 pre-buyers.
👉🏻 La collection “Asprey x Bugatti”, fruit of the partnership between the Alsatian car manufacturer and the British house. A collection of 261 virtual sculptures inspired by the history of Bugatti models, 130 of which have been pre-allocated to Exclusible customers.
Everything is not therefore at a standstill in the world of NFTs. It even seems that the sector is approaching a certain maturity, after the speculative madness of 2020-2021 has died down. Trading volumes on OpenSea have indeed lost 99%, rising from the daily billion at the end of 2021 to nearly 10 million dollars at the time of these lines. Volumes have tightened around a handful of really serious projects, while brands are taking over metaverses and NFTs for their communication. We also recently explained to you how several luxury labels managed to give a facelift to their image by increasing their incursions into Web3.
