Dapper Labs Acquires Brud, Shifts Focus To DAOs

Can DAOs be the future of social interaction? Dapper Labs could be thinking so, as the platform has acquired startup Brud to jump-start the company’s new business unit around DAOs.

The new business unit will be titled ‘Dapper Collectives,’ and will focus primarily on building out DAOs on Flow. Details were released on Dapper’s Medium page today regarding the new acquisition.

Let’s take a look at everything you need to know around today’s announcement.

Brud x Dapper Labs: What You Need To Know

Brud is a community-building startup best known for the creation of virtual CG influencer and online character, Lil Miquela. The acquisition will still engage Brud’s team in a seemingly streamlined way; Brud co-founder and CEO Trevor McFedries will now lead Dapper Collectives. Additionally, Brud’s entire 30-plus person team will join the Dapper headcount. Dapper now employs a team of 250+.

Deal terms around the acquisition have not been disclosed, only that the deal was equity-based. To date, Dapper has primarily focused on building NFTs on Flow. Today’s announcement shows that the platform is now looking to scale out even further, and envisions a future bigger than just NFT engagement. DAOs, or Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, have been a crypto staple but generally underutilized relative to the growth of NFTs or other crypto-native categories.

Dapper Collectives looks to address three main pillars: building upon community ownership, developing the “picks and shovels” of decentralized ownership and governance on Flow, and assisting “web 2” companies with decentralizing their operations. The company will continue to develop personalities, like Lil Miquela, under the Dapper Collectives wing.

Flow has seen a rebound in October after a lackluster close to September. Recent partnership news for Dapper has given investors optimism looking forward as Flow scales up. | Source: FLOW-USD on TradingView.com

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It’s A DAO Eat DAO World

DAOs are a relatively untapped area of mainstream development, which Dapper Labs looks to address. While social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter have been exploring NFTs and payment solutions, could the answer to re-defining social interaction really be via DAOs?

In the meantime, Dapper has focused on building it’s sports IP strength; the platform has two new sports marketplaces in the works with two new established leagues – LaLiga and the NFL. Those are both expected to be available to the public in the next six to eight months.

Dapper’s latest investment will focus on building the tools and infrastructure to power future DAOs on Flow. The move is Dapper’s first acquisition of a venture-backed company. Outside of Brud, McFedries also brings DAO experience from building the ‘Friends With Benefits‘ DAO on Ethereum.

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Featured image from brud.fyi, Charts from TradingView.com