Quick take:
Nuktah has announced a seed funding round led by Animoca Brands.
The fundraising also attracted participation from Polygon alongside several regional investors.
Nuktah claims to be Saudi Arabia’s first licensed NFT marketplace and plans to use the fresh funding to scale up its business.
Nuktah has announced an undisclosed seed funding round led by Animoca Brands. The fundraising also attracted participation from web3 company Polygon alongside several regional investors.
Nuktah claims to be Saudi Arabia’s first NFT marketplace to be licensed by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Investment. The platform wants to onboard the region’s burgeoning creator community onto web3.
Nuktah offers businesses and brands a launchpad where they can deploy and monetise NFT collections easily, avoiding the need to deal with complicated blockchain infrastructure.
With backing from Animoca Brands and Polygon, the platform is tapping into two of the most impactful blockchain ventures in the industry. Animoca Brands is renowned for its investments in web3, including partnerships with leading multinational corporations. Nuktah will gain massive exposure to the rest of the industry by utilising Animoca Brands’ big network.
On the other hand, Polygon is the leading Ethereum scaling protocol. The layer 2 blockchain offers infinite scalability, allowing web3 builders to develop massive dApp projects. Businesses will be able to launch NFT projects for their customers regardless of how big they are.
Nuktah is now well-positioned to empower local artists and technical talent in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the MENA region.
Commenting on his company’s leading role in the seed round, Yat Siu, the executive chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands, said: “Our investment into Nuqtah is another meaningful step in our commitment to build up the Web3 industry in MENA as well as develop our own capabilities in the region. Nuqtah is an important pioneer and we anticipate that it will greatly help to boost Web3 and NFT adoption in the Middle East. We will continue to expand our operational presence and collaborate with local strategic partners looking to adopt Web3.”
In 2021, Salwa Radwi, an award-winning photographer, artist, and Web3 and blockchain advocate founded Nuktah with the goal of making it the first-of-its-kind blockchain technology provider and developer in the MENA region. She is joined by co-founders who worked at leading technology companies like Careem and Oracle.
Salwa Radwi, founder and CEO of Nuqtah, commented: “Watching Animoca Brands pioneer and enable the Web3 scene since day one has been so inspirational, and so we take great pride in the trust placed in Nuqtah through this investment. We look forward to working together to unlock the massive potential and opportunities in the Middle East.”
The NFT marketplace will use the fresh funding to scale its growth over the next 12 months including product development, marketing, and talent acquisition, among others.
Saudi Arabia is one of the global web3 hubs and alongside the UAE is spearheading the adoption of the technology in the MENA region.
Animoca Brands, on the other hand, is expanding its presence in the region following its recent partnership with Manga Productions to co-create web3 content based on the animation studio’s portfolio of characters.
