Jay-Z Enters The NFT Business With Investment In NFT Marketplace Bitski

"I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man."

Jay Z is staying true to his words as the rapper has ensured he is a force to be reckoned with in the business world. After selling streaming app Tidal to Square for $350 million about a week ago, the hip-hop star is making his entry into another fast-rising area, NFTs.

On Thursday, Bitski, an NFT marketplace revealed that Marcy Venture Partners, Jay's investment vehicle, were on their list of investors. The startup revealed that it had raised $19 million from various investors, including Marcy Ventures Partners, Jay Brown, Troy Carter, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, and tennis star, Serena Williams.

Bitsky, which serves as a marketplace for digital products, works by providing a platform for creators and consumers to create, buy, and sell any digital product. It allows celebrities or popular brands to bypass the crypto part of early markets, as it can be quite complex.

The startup sells a variety of subscription plans to creators to create custom NFT storefronts that they can sell through as their channel rather than pushing users to wide-ranging marketplaces. 

Last week, it was revealed that the site was responsible for powering the deal between sports brand Adidas, and Trevor Lawrence to release 3D animated card collectibles. Proceeds will go to charity.

All investors who raised the $19 million are Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), including the firm’s Cultural Leadership Fund; Marcy Ventures; Metapurse, purchasers of Beeple’s $69m NFT sold at Christie’s; Andrew Gertler’s AG Ventures, Trevor McFedries (Creator of Miquela); Night Media (MrBeast), Serena Williams, Wendi Murdoch, and senior executives across TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, 100 Thieves, Adobe, and more, with continued support from Kindred Ventures and Galaxy Digital.

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