Spanish soccer giant FC Barcelona has secured €120 million (approx. $132 million) investment from LIBERO football finance AG and NIPA Capital B.V, having sold a 29.5% stake in Bridgeburg, the holding company of Barça Vision.
Barça Vision is FC Barcelona's web3-focused entity responsible for the football club’s digital strategy and its presence in the metaverse, its Web3, and blockchain initiatives, including NFTs. It makes a significant part of the football club’s mission to build the digital Espai Barça and unite the digital community of the club's fans around the globe.
According to FC Barcelona, the sale transaction of Barça Vision was executed in agreement with the approval of the general assembly of club members and the participation of Socios.com and Orpheus Media who acquired 24.5% of Barca Vision for €100M, respectively, last summer.
This capital will help the Catalan club to register all the players for its first LaLiga game of the season against Getafe. An amount of money will be also enough to strengthen the team with a new right-back and a goalscoring midfielder.
Both LIBERO and NIPA will bring their unique visions and expertise to skyrocket the development and growth of Barça Vision.
The Spanish soccer giant was among the earliest adopters of web3 technology. It all started in March 2022 when the football club announced the launch of its cryptocurrency and NFTs. Since then, it has been continuing to realize its metaverse ambitions. One of FC Barcelona’s renowned endeavors aimed to engage better with fans is the Unleash Your Passion’ NFT collection released in collaboration with Plastiks in May. The collection featured 3,000 animal-themed NFTs, each contributing to removing 35,000,000 kilograms of plastic from the earth. In late June, the club announced the second NFT in its ten-piece 'Masterpiece' collection, featuring star player Alexia Putellas. The collection sold for $300,231 at an online auction run on OpenSea.
The latest announcement shows that FC Barcelona will now own barely 20% of its studio. However, this looks like an inevitable move for the club as it needs funds to support the team in real life. Besides, Barça Vision got into the professional hands of its investors who are likely to accelerate its growth and move it forward!
