Spanish football giant FC Barcelona has secured a substantial investment of 120 million euros ($132 million) from Libero Football Finance AG and Nipa Capital B.V. This investment is dedicated to fueling FC Barcelona’s Web3 initiative, Barça Vision.
In an announcement made on August 11th, it was revealed that FC Barcelona had exchanged a 29.5% stake in Bridgeburg Invest, the holding company overseeing Barça Vision, in return for the injected capital. Barça Vision represents FC Barcelona’s strategic effort to consolidate all digital content related to Web3 and blockchain technologies, encompassing NFTs and the metaverse. This initiative is a crucial part of the club’s broader strategy to establish the digital Espai Barça.
Libero Football Finance AG is a publicly listed German company specialising in financial consultancy for soccer clubs, while Nipa Capital B.V. is a venture capital firm based in the Netherlands. The transaction is contingent upon the approval of FC Barcelona shareholders and is anticipated to conclude in the fourth quarter of 2023.
FC Barcelona’s collaboration with the Chiliz blockchain dates back to February 2020, when the club introduced Ethereum-based FC Barcelona Fan Tokens (BAR) for its sporting franchises. In August 2022, Chiliz made headlines by acquiring a 24.5% stake in Barça Vision, the digital content creation arm of FC Barcelona, for $100 million.
In May of the same year, FC Barcelona debuted in the NFT space by launching its first NFT collection in collaboration with Plastiks. Dubbed “Unleash Your Passion,” this collection featured 3,000 animal-themed NFTs priced at $30 each, with the proceeds directed towards removing a staggering 35,000,000 kilograms of plastic from the environment.
Following this, FC Barcelona achieved notable success in the NFT market. In July 2022, the club auctioned its first NFT, “Masterpiece #1 In A Way,” at a Sotheby’s New York auction, fetching an impressive $693,000. The momentum continued into June 2023 when the second instalment of the NFT series, “Masterpiece #2 – Empowerment,” was sold on OpenSea for $300,231.
With this substantial investment, FC Barcelona aims to further its Web3 ambitions and position itself at the forefront of the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
✅| OFFICIAL: FC Barcelona reaches an agreement with Libero Football Finance and private investment advisors NIPA Capital BV to become new partners of Bridgeburg Invest, a Barça Vision trademark.
These investors have acquired 29.5% of the ownership of Barça Vision for €120m,… pic.twitter.com/4aWCMO8iA1
— Barça Buzz (@Barca_Buzz) August 11, 2023