NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens have recently become a hot topic in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency. They are digital assets that represent ownership of a unique item, be it art, music, collectibles, or anything else. The sports industry has also started to see the potential of NFTs in fan engagement and in monetization. NFT Labs is a startup that aims to simplify NFTs for the web2 world and bring this technology to non-crypto-native people.
Founded in July 2021 by Atharva Sabnis, Ayan Uali, and an undisclosed third founder, NFT Labs is a web3 company that offers a suite of fun, easy-to-use products to solve the trilemma of fan engagement, fan growth, and monetization for sports teams. Their core product is Itsmyne, an in-stadium fan engagement product that allows fans to claim a free commemorative NFT of a team they’re supporting without needing a crypto wallet, cryptocurrency, or an app. Fans can do this by scanning a QR code or visiting a URL, which directs them to a web app.
At the end of the game, a few lucky NFT claimers get digital or physical memorabilia, making the program raffle-like. These NFTs serve as web3 tracking cookies, enabling NFT Labs to also help sports organizations develop personalized marketing initiatives for their NFT/fan tokens.
NFT Labs has an advantage in sports GTM (Go-To-Market) as they are part of Hype Sports Innovation, the world’s leading sports-tech accelerator that empowers them with connections to 100+ sports partners. They were the NFT Partner of the Global Sports Tech Summit 2022 and the I-Tech Cup. They are also part of WeSportUP, which gives them access to all of the Italian sports bodies. Finally, they are backed by SportBoost, an accelerator by LaLiga Tech, to access LaLiga’s ecosystem. Their clients include Deltatre, CONCACAF, and Ironman.
NFT Labs has received recognition for their innovative products and solutions. They received the “Innovating on the Money” award by the Celo Foundation and were recognized in the “9 Hottest NFT Projects in 2022” listicle by USA Today. They were also featured by Hindustan Times and won 3rd Prize (International Category) at the Social Football Summit 2022 in Rome. Atharva Sabnis, one of the co-founders, was nominated for the 2022 Voice of Crypto Awards under the “Most Innovative Startup Founder” category.
NFT Labs has a revenue model based on variable revenue. They take a token per user fee from the blockchain partner for on-boarding web3 newbies into their ecosystem. They earn a percentage spend of any campaign that their clients run using their web3 advertising platform. They also charge a fee for their Itsmyne product, but the details of this are not mentioned in the available data.
As NFT Labs continues to simplify NFTs for the web2 world and brings this technology to non-crypto-native people it would be interesting to see how Itsmyne can build a scalable solution for fan engagement, growth, and monetization for sports teams.
