NFT Platform Recur to Shut Down Despite $50M Raise and Big Name Backers

The NFT startup Recur mentioned on Friday that its Web3 platform is winding down—unable to climate the chills of crypto winter regardless of internet hosting the IP of a number of massive manufacturers like Whats up Kitty and Nickelodeon.

Over the following a number of months, Recur’s platform will steadily lose its core options, the agency mentioned in a weblog submit. That features the power for customers to withdraw NFTs from Recur, money out stablecoin balances, and commerce collectibles on Recur-hosted marketplaces.

“​​This determination has not been a straightforward one,” the corporate mentioned on Twitter, citing “unexpected challenges and shifts within the enterprise panorama.”

Recur’s announcement captures current headwinds within the NFT house as corporations navigate a downturn within the recognition of digital collectibles. Final July, Recur launched into a “jet-setting NFT expertise” with Whats up Kitty and Mates, just for its ambitions to be grounded a bit greater than a 12 months later. 

That very same July, Recur famous there was “unprecedented demand” for its TV Packs that contained profile-picture (PFP) NFTs of Nickelodeon characters like Tommy Pickles from “Rugrats.” Pack openings will likely be disabled in November, Recur mentioned on Friday.

Based in 2021, Recur billed itself as an organization that gives different companies Web3 “constructing blocks.” Its platform may very well be used for creating in-game belongings, loyalty applications, and digital collectibles that leverage NFTs, in accordance with its web site.

Recur’s transfer comes not lengthy after Nifty’s, a social community turned Web3 creators portal, additionally mentioned it was shutting down. Nifty’s had secured big-name media titles as companions too, comparable to “The Matrix” and “Recreation of Thrones.”

With over 380,000 NFTs minted via Recur, the agency mentioned it has modifications in retailer to make sure that varied digital collectibles will dwell on.

Recur mentioned metadata and media for its NFTs will likely be migrated to the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), a peer-to-peer file-sharing community constructed by Protocol Labs. Different belongings will likely be hosted on Filecoin’s community, Recur added.

In December 2021, Recur provided a Recur Go throughout a restricted, 24-hour gross sales window. Bought as an NFT for $300, the go may very well be resold and provided holders early entry to future NFT drops amongst different advantages. 

Final February, a Recur Go bought for $88,888, Recur mentioned in an announcement on Twitter. Right this moment, the least expensive Recur Go listed on OpenSea at the moment asks for 0.001 ETH (about $1.69).

In late 2021, Recur mentioned it was valued at $333 million after it introduced a $50 million Sequence A funding spherical. The spherical was led by Digital, an funding fund backed by the household workplace of New York Mets majority proprietor and billionaire hedge fund supervisor Steve Cohen.

Different notable names had participated in a $5 million seed funding spherical earlier that 12 months, comparable to investor and NFT creator Gary Vaynerchuk, Gemini’s Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and Ethereum co-founder and ConsenSys founder Joe Lubin. (Disclosure: ConsenSys funds an editorially-independent Decrypt.)