Tom Brady’s NFT Startup Autograph Raises $170M

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday wasn’t the only triumph for quarterback Tom Brady this past week.

Autograph, the NFT startup that Brady co-founded, raised $170 million in a Series B funding round, the company announced Wednesday. According to Bloomberg, NFTs are a $44 billion market.

• The round was led by a16z and Kleiner Perkins.
• Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Nicole Quinn and Katie Haun’s new firm also participated.

The moves didn’t end with fresh capital, either. Autograph also has several new board members, including Arianna Simpson and Chris Dixon from a16z, Ilya Fushman from Kleiner Perkins, and Haun.

“We are pumped to add some really knowledgeable people in the Web3 space to our team,” Brady tweeted.

An Early Splash

The company launched in July of last year and already boasts NFTs with several major stars, including Brady himself. The Weeknd (also an Autograph board member), Simone Biles, Tiger Woods, Naomi Osaka, Tony Hawk, and Derek Jeter have all been represented.

In July, Autograph inked a partnership with DraftKings Marketplace, the sports betting operator’s NFT platform. It has also partnered with Lionsgate and SLAM.

“Autograph has truly shown itself to be a rocketship in the past six months,” Simpson said.