Bollywood-focused non-fungible token (NFT) platform BollyCoin has closed its pre-sale round, after selling 20 million tokens worth $2 million (around Rs 14.8 crore), the company said in a statement. The startup is expected to go live in December this year.
The Ethereum-based marketplace, started by Bollywood actor, producer and director Atul Agnihotri, would allow fans to invest and trade clips and stills from films, iconic dialogues, posters, unseen footage, social media content and merchandise from celebrities for NFTs, the statement said.
In October this year, Bollywood actor Salman Khan joined the NFT bandwagon, right after actor Amitabh Bachchan announced that he will be selling some of his digital assets as NFTs. In a tweet, Khan announced that his NFTs will be sold on a new platform called BollyCoin soon. He did not clarify what these NFTs would be, but photographs shared with the tweet suggest that Khan will be selling photographs of himself, and perhaps movie posters.
As of today, BollyCoin has announced its partnership with production houses belonging to the Khan family, including Salman Khan Films, Arbaaz Khan Production, Sohail Khan Productions, and Reel Life Production Pvt. Ltd.
The platform has offered the BollyCoins at a fixed price of Rs 7 per token. By buying these tokens, holders can receive real-world benefits each time they sell the NFTs on BollyCoin, the statement said. Holders will be able to trade the coins on crypto-exchange platforms after the company’s initial DEX offering (IDO) in December this year.
An initial DEX offering or IDO is a type of decentralised and permissionless crowdfunding platform.
“Bridging the emerging crypto market with Bollywood, we aim to provide an innovative way to allow the industry and blockchain enthusiasts from around the world to own NFTs of their favourite films and celebrities,” Kyle Lopes, Co-Founder, BollyCoin said.
“Around a million BollyCoin tokens were sold within the first three hours, and the figure reached 2 million at the end of seven hours. All 20 million tokens were sold out within 30 days of their availability. Even before the formal launch (scheduled in December this year), we are associated with prominent names in the industry and a few other crucial ones are in the works too,” he added.
Homegrown digital NFT platform Rario has roped in Zaheer Khan and Faf Du Plessis earlier for a cricket-only platform. Singapore-based Cricket Foundation also announced an NFT platform for cricket fans last month.
The growing craze for NFTs in India has also been leading to startups raising funds in a bid to expand. Last week, NFT startup Lysto raised $3 million (Rs 22.25 crore) in seed capital from BEENEXT, Better Capital, Cloud Capital and other investors. Another NFT platform Hyy.pe in October raised $2 million in a funding round led by Elevation Capital, the statement said.