Hedge Fund Giant Alan Howard Backs $7.5M Round for ‘Financial NFTs’ Project

Nested’s social trading platform allows investors to earn royalties on their crypto portfolios by representing them as NFTs.

AccessTimeIconMar 2, 2022 at 2:13 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 4:10 p.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

Nested, a social trading platform that enables users to create and invest in “financial NFTs,” has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding in a round led by billionaire hedge fund investor Alan Howard.

Along with Howard, the round saw participation from big-name angels and investors across decentralized finance (DeFi), including Polychain Capital’s Joseph Eagan, and Lily Liu, whose bitcoin startup Earn.com was acquired by Coinbase for over $100 million in 2018.

  • Why Sequoia Capital Is Raising $600M to Launch New Crypto Fund
    06:39
    Why Sequoia Capital Is Raising $600M to Launch New Crypto Fund
  • Twitter Joined $20M Funding Round for Bitcoin Payments Provider OpenNode
    06:14
    Twitter Joined $20M Funding Round for Bitcoin Payments Provider OpenNode
  • Twitter Joined $20M Funding Round for Bitcoin Payments Provider OpenNode
    06:14
    Twitter Joined $20M Funding Round for Bitcoin Payments Provider OpenNode
  • Polygon Raises $450M to Build Web 3 Applications, Invest in Zero-knowledge Tech
    06:55
    Polygon Raises $450M to Build Web 3 Applications, Invest in Zero-knowledge Tech
  • Nested provides a way for people to invest in crypto portfolios that are hand-curated by the platform’s users. Investing in a Nested portfolio means buying a “NestedNFT,” a non-fungible token (NFT) that is tied to a portfolio’s underlying assets and allows one to buy or sell an entire portfolio in just a click.

    Users who create a Nested portfolio are rewarded royalties each time their portfolio is replicated by another user, the company said, and investors in a portfolio can buy, sell or swap their holdings at any time.

    Why Nested?

    Nested joins a growing crop of DeFi projects, like Index Coop and Housecat, that enable people to easily diversify their crypto investments through pre-packaged indexes and portfolios.

    In describing what differentiates his project from others in the space, Nested Founder Rudy Kadoch explained to CoinDesk in an email, “Nested has been built by DeFi-native people for all people, compared to other DeFi platforms built by DeFi-native people for DeFi people.”

    Moving forward, Kadoch says his aim with Nested is to democratize access to crypto, using NFTs to usher a new wave of people curious about crypto into decentralized finance.

    “My mom knows what an NFT is,” writes Kadoch. “There is considerable hype around NFTs. But more importantly, retail investors, and even the public, have understood the concept of NFTs in a shorter time than it has taken for them to comprehend cryptocurrencies.”

    As a new investor, crypto is overwhelming. Though we’re long past the token-crazed ICO mania of 2017, it remains difficult for the lay investor to differentiate established projects from transparent cash grabs – even as an emerging class of blue(er) chip tokens can sometimes seem around the corner.

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

    Sam Kessler

    Sam is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor for tech and protocols. He reports on decentralized technology, infrastructure and governance. He owns ETH and BTC.


    Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.


    Read more about