21-year-old founder raises $5M for NFT fan engagement – TechCrunch

Natalia Murillo was an undergraduate at the University of Southern California when a professor taught her about the cryptographic technique of zero-knowledge proofs. Since then, she has been immersed in Web3 and blockchain technology, dropping out of college and investing her ~$5,000 in NFTs before starting Web3’s company Coop.

After two months of private beta, Coup, co-founded by 21-year-old CEO Murillo with CTO Conner Chyung, went public. Basically, Coop is a protocol that helps creators and communities launch NFT-based membership passes to raise funds for projects, Murillo told TechCrunch in an interview.

Coops, as they are called, are owned by their members, who vote on how to spend the group’s treasury money, Murillo said. Coups can be set up for anything from venture funding to creating a new clothing brand, although its use cases seem to be primarily aimed at content creators looking to build a community of engaged fans.

The platform has already seen $850 million from the treasury of 50 active communities buying and selling NFTs, the company said, adding that it has a waiting list of 8,500 groups that want to set up clusters. The company claims that registrations on its platform are growing 4x over the week. Current Kup users include Mems NFT, The Heart Project, 1confirmation, Musicians and Gamers with creative duos, he said.

Coop has raised $5 million in backing from Palm Tree Crew, DayOne Ventures, Ethereal Ventures, Defy Alliance, Vault Capital, PirVC, DCF, led by 1Proof and an alternative fund focused on the Web3 creative economy. God, 0xmons and angel investors include crypto influencer Cooper Turley, former Coinbase CTO and a16z investor Balaji Srinivasan and former Sequoia partner Liu Jiang.

Murillo describes Coup as a “socioeconomic network,” comparing it to traditional social networks. In some ways it’s similar to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), a blockchain-based community governance structure that gained popularity during last year’s crypto bull run. But COUPs have some key differences from DAOs, Murillo said.

“Koop is light-touch, it’s lightweight, and it’s focused on social experiences, and it’s less about whether each member is voting or really decentralized,” Murillo said. For example, creators using Coops may still choose to single-handedly control their teams’ wallets and decisions, but use the Coops community as a “temperature check” to guide their decision-making.

DAOs don’t either. they have Decentralized, but the ethos around them focuses on giving each group member the right to vote fairly. Coups, by contrast, can be more centralized, smaller in size, and groups can be organized around a short-term goal or cause and given the option to dissolve the coup when it succeeds, Murillo added.

“We engage in more fictional worlds or digital communities than our local democracies, and for the amount of time and investment I’ve shared with them, I’ve felt a greater connection in terms of what communities have to offer,” Murillo said of her motivation behind founding the company.

She shared the example of YouTuber and creator Logan Paul to illustrate the benefits of Coop. Murillo says she’s been a subscriber to Paul’s “Impulsive” podcasts for years, but she doesn’t feel engaged with the community around the brand — “All I do is subscribe.” I am paying taxes to make an opinion and buy a commodity,” said Murillo.

A screenshot of Kopp’s community chat feature Image Credits: buy now

Paul Koop, 99 Originals, provides rights to community members who may not otherwise have access to content as consumers, she added.

“I’ve got the ability to ask, should we invest? If I have ideas, he’s supporting them, the community is supporting them. I own the story, the direction, the mission and the content that comes from it.” Murillo said she is a member of the 99 Originals Koop.

NFT-based membership passes help each member feel unique, unlike a traditional social network, according to Murillo.

“In the coop, you’re irreplaceable. You are truly a special person in the context of this larger ecosystem, and since you are not only an investor but also an owner, we bring your membership passport or NFT to life by associating your contributions, work and tasks. All on a chain,” Murillo said.