Understanding VeeFriends: Why did it secure $50 million in seed funding led by a16z?

Original Title: "The Impact of the NFT Series VeeFriends by Gary Vee, the American Version of Big Blue and Brother Can, Taking Off. Should Domestic Projects Follow Suit?"

Author: Chloe, Chain Teahouse

The 5-year-old community marketing master Gary Vee has created many entrepreneurial miracles in the past. He believes that because he experienced the internet's evolution from nothing to something, he is better at grasping the various advantages of online marketing. His most distinctive personal trait is his consistent use of profanity paired with motivational speeches, which have provided the public with many inspiring talks. This not only makes more middle-aged people believe in their own strengths but also encourages them to engage in community marketing and brand management trends.

From web2 to web3, Gary does not want to miss out.

In the past year, Gary has transformed from an NFT collector to a creator, even launching VaynerNFT to assist celebrities and brands in launching their own NFTs. Now, Gary is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the NFT space, with his influence extending throughout the entire NFT ecosystem.

He is not only considered one of the most important figures in NFTs but has also solidified his position as his VeeFriends ecosystem expands.

As a trend forecasting expert, Gary believes that NFTs will gradually carve out their own path, and VeeFriends will become one of the most revered projects.

1. Project Overview

So far, the Genesis VeeFriends series has generated approximately 49,000 ETH (nearly $160 million) in sales through OpenSea. However, since the launch of the first 10,255 VeeFriends, Gary believes that VeeFriends Series 1 is just the beginning.

Last August, with the launch of Book Games, VeeFriends showcased its features to the public for the first time, and within just two months, the "fans" of VeeFriends expanded again due to Mini Drops.

VeeFriends holders can participate in VeeCon, an event specifically for VeeFriends NFT holders, which will provide tickets for the next three years (until 2024). The event will focus on business, marketing, creativity, entrepreneurship, innovation, competition, and of course, entertainment.

Gary's plan emphasizes creating the best experiences for the community, bringing unprecedented participation value to all attending VeeFriends holders.

2. Application Scenarios

Book Games

Book Games originated from Gary's book "Twelve and a Half." With Book Games, he was able to combine his book with the VeeFriends ecosystem.

Book Games is a Layer 2 NFT project that includes 125,000 permanently burnable tokens. The game incentivizes Gary's NFT fanbase to purchase his new book to earn NFT rewards. Gary chose to host Book Games on Immutable X to minimize gas fees (transaction fees).

Last August, VeeFriends announced that during the one-day promotion of Book Games, for every 12 books ordered, they would receive an NFT through an airdrop. Ultimately, Gary sold over 1 million books and subsequently announced that the gamified portion of Book Games would officially launch this year.

The "game" of Book Games aims to implement numerous trading possibilities through Immutable X. Book Games holders can sell their NFTs or keep them in exchange for other NFTs, sports cards, VeeCon tickets, and other special prizes. Book Games can also serve as a whitelist pathway for other VeeFriends projects.

VeeFriends Mini Drops

Two months after Book Games, Gary Vee announced the launch of VeeFriends Mini Drops.

This is a sub-series under VeeFriends, with the Mini Drops featuring the Spooky Vees series, which includes 31 unique 1:1 artworks. For example, Halloween-themed VeeFriends characters will only be released on Halloween, and these NFTs are eligible to be claimed first by holders of Halloween VeeFriends in a VIP manner.

The Mini Drops series also includes the Gift Goat NFT. By holding the Gift Goat VeeFriends character, collectors can receive 18 exclusive gift experiences curated by Gary and the VeeFriends team.

Now, as VeeFriends' two powerful NFTs (Book Games and Mini Drops) continue to thrive in the secondary market, Gary's NFTs are consistently accumulating significant ETH transactions in the secondary market, prompting Gary to prepare for the expansion of the VeeFriends and VaynerNFT ecosystems, namely VeeFriends Series 2.

VeeFriends Series 2

In early April this year, Gary revealed that through VeeFriends Series 2, each token's ETH price would be adjusted to $995, serving as a way for ordinary NFT enthusiasts to join the VeeFriends ecosystem at a low cost. However, this time, the total supply of the new series will be released on different dates.

First, on April 12, randomly selected Book Games NFT holders on the whitelist will be able to mint Series 2 NFTs. The total supply reserved for Book Games holders is 32,000 NFTs. Similarly, on April 12, those holding VeeFriends Series 1 NFTs will be able to apply for Series 2 NFTs. The total supply set for this configuration is also around 10,000, similar to Series 1.

Next, public sales will begin with 10,000 Series 2 NFTs available for purchase. Finally, starting April 27, 15 new characters (220 tokens each) will be introduced into the VeeFriends ecosystem. Over a span of 15 days, one character will be offered each day, and the only way for participants to obtain a character is to hold a specific set of Book Games tokens to enter the daily lottery.

Notably, the second series NFTs will not grant their holders access to VeeCon but will provide other incentives within the VaynerNFT ecosystem. The upcoming release will also introduce various new token burning mechanisms, unique to Book Games and Series 2.

The 15 new characters of this series will officially launch in April this year, showcasing some existing VeeFriends characters along with 15 brand new characters, all created by Gary.

V2 Price: Below $1,000

Total Supply of VeeFriends Series 2: 55,555

VeeFriends Series 1 Holders: 10,255 Friends

Whitelist: 32,000

Mint: 10,000

15 New Characters: 3,300 (can only be exchanged by burning Book Games NFTs, with different rarities costing different amounts)

3. Team Introduction

Gary Vaynerchuk (GaryVee) is a highly sought-after public speaker and a five-time New York Times bestselling author. He is also an angel investor in companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Venmo, and Uber.

In 1978, Gary and his family immigrated to the United States from Belarus, living in an apartment in Queens, New York, with eight family members before moving to New Jersey.

Gary often refers to himself as a "purebred entrepreneur" because he started his own lemonade stand at the age of 7 and eventually sold baseball cards and toys worth tens of thousands of dollars during his high school years.

When Gary firmly grasped the "internet" in the late 1990s, he transformed his father's liquor store into one of the country's earliest e-commerce platforms for alcoholic beverages, indirectly leading to explosive growth in the family business.

He then renamed the store "Wine Library," and during his time at Wine Library, he began producing a long-running web series called WineLibraryTV on YouTube. Gary produced an episode almost every day for a full five years.

After successfully implementing social media strategies, various media invitations followed. By 2005, Gary's genius email marketing strategy had increased Wine Library's valuation from $3 million to $60 million.

In August 2011, Gary announced his departure from Wine Library to focus on creating VaynerMedia (a digital agency co-founded by the Vaynerchuk brothers in 2009), which replicated what Gary had done for Wine Library, helping many businesses find success.

Just nine years later, the company now has over 800 employees, serving clients such as Pepsi and General Electric.

While expanding his business, Gary has also continuously managed his personal brand, publishing four New York Times bestselling business books and becoming one of the most sought-after public speakers.

4. Investment Institutions

The NFT project VeeFriends announced the completion of a seed round of financing led by a16z, with funds to be used to support the development of future intellectual property for the 283 VeeFriends characters, drive the expansion of its creative, technical, and experiential business, and recruit talent in the Web3 industry.

5. Community Situation

Twitter: 25.9k followers

https://twitter.com/veefriends

Discord: 367,128 followers

https://discord.com/invite/veefriends

6. Chain Teahouse Review

In less than a year, VeeFriends has become one of the most influential and unique NFT series in the market.

It is highly correlated with Gary's personal and professional brand, and VeeFriends was launched when similar PFP (Profile Picture) NFTs (like Bored Ape Yacht Club) were just starting to take off.

Gary's VeeFriends aims to create a community that conveys his creativity and business brand through NFTs, providing a case study for many NFT creators on membership economies.