ORIGYN Foundation secures $20 million funding for NFT-based authentication certificates

ORIGYN Foundation, a Switzerland-based non-profit organization, has completed a $20 million strategic raise from backers like Bill Ackman’s Table Management, Polychain Capital, and American singer and media personality Paris Hilton.

Other investors include GD10 Ventures, Vectr Ventures, Jaeson Ma, Div Turakhia, Carter Reum, and Coinko, among others. 

According to the Tuesday announcement, the $20 million capital raise puts the foundation at a $300 million valuation.

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ORIGYN uses non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as digital certificates to identify and authenticate luxury physical and digital goods. The foundation says it utilizes both blockchain and artificial intelligence to develop its NFT-based authentication system.

“Bridging physical goods with digital certificates is the next evolution of NFTs. ORIGYN is bringing the benefits of a clear record of authenticity and ownerships, to digital objects in a number of different industries. NFTs are more than just digital images and we’re excited to show the world what is truly possible with this technology,” ORIGYN Foundation CEO Daniel Haudenschild told The Block.

The private funding round comes as ORIGYN is gearing up for the launch of its OGY token, which will be available to the public before the end of the first half of 2022. OGY will serve as the project’s native utility token required to interact with services across ORIGYN’s four core verticals — art, collectibles, digital media, and luxury — including the creation of authentication certificates.

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Osato is a news reporter at The Block as part of the crypto ecosystems team that focuses on DAO governance, staking, blockchain layers, and DeFi. He was previously a news reporter at Cointelegraph. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, he enjoys crosswords, poker, and attempting to beat his Scrabble high score. Follow him on Twitter at @OsatoNomayo.