Lucas Matney
Senior Editor
The Latest from Lucas Matney
Hundreds of Y Combinator alumni join crypto collective to back web3 startups
A crypto collective backing web3 startups is seeking new members. The only condition for joining? Applicants must be alumni of the Y Combinator accelerator. The group, called Orange DAO, is an effort
Web3 ‘Proof of attendance’ startup raises $10M to mint shared memories as NFTs
If blockchains are immutable records of our digital history, what kinds of history do we want to inscribe on them? Predictably, most records thus far have been transaction data, but as entrepreneurs e
Tom Brady’s buzzy celebrity NFT startup Autograph banks $170M from Silicon Valley’s top crypto investors
Autograph, an NFT agency co-founded by athlete Tom Brady with a particularly deep bench of star power, has banked new funding from crypto investors who hope the platform can bring a new generation of
OpenSea buys DeFi wallet startup Dharma Labs, appoints new CTO
NFT marketplace OpenSea is putting some of its freshly raised funds to good use, buying up crypto wallet startup Dharma Labs, the company announced today. The announcement follows a report earlier thi
Apple’s biggest scandal of 2022 is already happening
Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review! I’ve taken the last few weeks to unwind and ensure that my 2022 hot takes are as scorching as possible, or at least as prescient as possible. T
Goldfinch raises $25M from a16z to power its DeFi lending protocol for borrowers in developing countries
For all of the excitement pulsing through the so-called web3 space in the past year, most of the heartiest sums of investor dollars have seemed to find their way toward products touching users in the
NFT kingpin OpenSea lands monster $13.3B valuation in new raise
The NFT auction marketplace OpenSea had a blockbuster 2021 and as a result is seeing its private valuation grow more quickly than almost any other startup. The crypto firm announced late Tuesday that
Skydio debuts updated $1,099 self-flying drone with new bells and whistles
Skydio’s self-flying drone is getting a host of new software, hardware and services updates to ring in the new year. The Bay Area-based drone company is revamping their flagship drone with a num
Justin Kan’s NFT platform suffers rocky debut as scammer makes off with $150K in user funds
Despite billions in VC investment, many web3 crypto platforms are still pretty hostile places for users new to the crypto world. Case in point, today Justin Kan’s NFT platform Fractal suffered a
General Catalyst leads $7M investment in AR startup selling NFT jetpacks
After months of NFT mania and Facebook’s recent name change to Meta, it’s fair to say that “metaverse” chatter has reached a fever pitch. And while crypto investors are buying
Sound.xyz raises $5M from a16z to explore how web3 can upend the economics of the music business
This year, we’ve seen plenty of evidence that NFTs can shake up the economics of selling visual art, but there’s been less activity when it comes to web3 upending the economics of differen
Katie Haun is splitting off from a16z to launch her own crypto fund
Katie Haun, who co-leads Andreessen Horowitz’s $2.2 billion crypto fund, is splitting off from the firm and taking a number of colleagues with her — including operating partner Rachael Hor
Andreessen Horowitz backs NFT investor group behind rare Wu-Tang Clan album purchase
The crypto collective that bought Wu-Tang Clan’s “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” album and an NFT of the original Doge image has a new member: venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Nike acquires NFT collectibles studio RTFKT
Nike is taking a plunge deeper into the world of crypto collectibles, announcing that they’re acquiring the NFT studio RTFKT (pronounced “artifact”). The acquisition announcement com
‘Bored Apes’ shoots for the moon
Few things have been more fascinating and frustrating to witness in 2021 than the rise of million-dollar NFT profile pic projects. The collections of 10,000 procedurally generated JPGs earning market
Justin Kan debuts Fractal, a Solana-based marketplace for gaming NFTs
While OpenSea has already seemed to win the lion’s share of NFT marketplace traffic, competing storefronts are still striving to find their niche and prepare for a future where NFTs mean more th
Crypto gaming giant Dapper Labs takes its next shot with Genies NFT platform ‘The Warehouse’
As they near the end of a blockbuster year for NFTs that saw more than $10 billion in transaction volume, today’s NFT project developers are finding themselves facing a dilemma — whether t
Gift Guide: Camping gear you won’t regret buying
Buying camping gear is all about making tradeoffs. Lightweight backpacking gear may be perfect for trips where you carry everything with you but might not be quite as sturdy as the heavier options. Li
Meta’s Messenger boss, Stan Chudnovsky, is the latest exec to leave the company formerly known as Facebook
As Facebook transitions its corporate branding and organizes around a “metaverse” future, a number of high-profile execs have been leaving the company. Last week, former Messenger boss and