Artizen, a Web3 culture-centric crowdfunding platform, has amassed $2.2 million in funding to back creators blending art, technology, science, and design. The raise saw participation from notable Web3 funds including Consensys Mesh, Animoca Brands, and Protocol Labs, as well as individuals such as Blank Street Coffee’s Dan Hill, PleasrDAO’s Matt Condon, and Juan Benet, founder and CEO of Protocol Labs.
The platform’s approach enables creators to sell “Artifacts,” distinctive art pieces on the Ethereum blockchain that represent a project’s ethos. Artizen engages its community by allowing Artifact holders to vote on future featured projects. In a competitive twist, the creator who sells the most Artifacts in a season earns a cash prize, this season’s being $23,492.
Artizen co-founder René Pinnell distinguishes his platform from other Web3 platforms that allow creators to sell NFTs for project funding, asserting that Artifacts are valuable art pieces in their own right. “The idea is that these artifacts will appreciate in value based on how much real-world impact a project has,” Pinnell told Decrypt.
Artizen’s novel crowdfunding approach, combining art and blockchain technology, certainly carries the potential to reshape Web3 culture. By empowering creators with unique funding avenues and involving the community in the curating process, it offers an intriguing model that could inspire a paradigm shift. However, whether it will indeed ignite a revolution in the Web3 landscape as its founders intend is something that only time and its tangible impact can truly determine.
