NEW YORK — RareCircles, an all-in-one platform for building NFT memberships, has raised $7.5 million in a Seed round of funding. Tiger Global led the round with participation from White Star Capital, Hashed, Alpaca, Crew Capital, Global Founders Capital, Alumni Ventures and Detroit Venture Partners. Packy McCormick (Not Boring), Joe McCann, Austin Rief (The Morning Brew), Mike Dudas (6th Man Ventures), Greg Isenberg (Late Checkout Fund) and Julien Smith (Practice) are also joining as investors.
RareCircles was developed to support the next wave in NFTs, one driven by a new generation of entrepreneurs looking to create robust NFT membership experiences for their communities. In addition to simplifying the process for minting and monetizing NFTs, RareCircles’ self-serve solution provides the critical infrastructure for captivating audiences post purchase. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for customizing a dynamic experience powered by blockchain— one that integrates access to exclusive content, unique drops, private communities, immersive benefits and more.
“In recent years, innovative commerce and community platforms such as Kajabi and Patreon have enabled millions of people to realize new digital businesses,” said John Curtius, partner at Tiger Global. “We see the same revolutionary potential in the NFT space. But the current tools are limited and cumbersome — that’s where RareCircles comes in.”
With its all-inclusive, intuitive platform RareCircles eliminates the need for multiple third party tools, removing the barriers to entry in the Web3 space. Users can mint NFTs across different blockchains and take payments in both crypto and fiat, while building personalized storefronts and delivering community benefits. With RareCircles, an entrepreneur can generate support for a project by offering early membership; a fashion brand can gamify access to special products and perks; a content creator can reward fans with exclusive material and behind the scenes details.
“RareCircles is an exciting one stop solution that empowers creatives and business owners to transform how they interact with their clients and build sustainable communities around their products,” stated Baek Kim, General Partner at Hashed.
Mike Dudas, General Partner at 6th Man Ventures, commented, “In a sea of undifferentiated NFT agencies and marketplaces, RareCircles stands out for its easy, elegant and powerful platform that guides brands to fully utilize the power of NFTs.”
“Having built large communities and brands at their previous companies, the founders of RareCircles are well positioned to help elevate that link through Web3 and blockchain technology,” noted Sep Alavi, General Partner at White Star Capital.
RareCircles was founded by serial entrepreneurs Ethan Song and Nick D’Urbano. Ethan was previously the co-founder and CEO of direct-to-consumer brand Frank And Oak, while Nick occupied leadership roles at Gilt Groupe and Spring. They recognized that the leading brands of tomorrow will be built community first and that Web3 can be the ultimate enabler of this paradigm shift.
“We know there is a lot more to the equation than trading and collecting — NFTs are a powerful tool for transforming relationships between entrepreneurs and their communities,” said Song. “RareCircles is built to support this in any form they can dream of.”
