OpenSea has announced the acquisition of the startup Gem in order to strengthen its position as a leader in the non-fungible token (NFT) market. Thanks to the acquisition of this NFTs marketplaces aggregator, OpenSea will be able to offer new functionalities
An acquisition to improve user experience
Devin Finzer, co-founder and CEO of OpenSea, announced in a tweet and blog post the acquisition of startup Gem to strengthen the popular platform’s position in the non-fungible token (NFT) market.
Gem is the leading aggregator of NFT marketplaces. It allows its users to buy and sell non-fungible tokens across various marketplaces, including OpenSea.
1/ Exciting news!
To invest in the “pro” community and continue improving the OpenSea experience, we’re excited to share that we’ve acquired @gemxyz!
Read more in the official announcement blog, and below https://t.co/IBn38f2d3U
– OpenSea (@opensea) April 25, 2022
In his blog post, Devin Finzer had this to say about the motivation for the acquisition:
At OpenSea, our mission is to bring the power and potential of NFT to more people around the world. As the NFT community grows, we have recognized the need to better serve the experienced users, the “pros”, and to offer more flexibility and choice to people of all experience levels. “
In the press release announcing the acquisition, the CEO of OpenSea also makes a very short parenthesis on a news item concerning one of the members of the management team of the startup NFT. Indeed, the latter was co-founded by a person who was accused of sexual abuse, including rape, and sexual harassment of minors. She was operating under a pseudonym in order to remain anonymous.
Devin Finzer spoke out about the matter and said the individual has been removed from the company:
“The company has been forced out of the business.
During the course of our investigation, we became aware of, and immediately surfaced, deeply disturbing allegations against a former member of Gem’s management team who was operating under the alias Neso. After investigating these allegations, the employee was immediately dismissed prior to the conclusion of this transaction. This individual has never been and will never be affiliated with OpenSea. “
Reassuring to OpenSea users and employees
