What MakersPlace does

MakersPlace was an NFT marketplace and digital art platform founded in 2018 in San Francisco by Dannie Chu, Yash Nelapati, and Ryoma Ito (formerly of Pinterest and Onchain Labs). The platform enabled digital artists to mint NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain and sell them through an online marketplace that supported both cryptocurrency and fiat (credit card / USD) payments — an industry first at the time. MakersPlace differentiated via proprietary custodial wallet technology that allowed non-crypto-native users to transact, dynamic-token smart contracts enabling multi-artist royalty sharing, and a coined "drop" release format that became standard NFT market terminology. The company also partnered with The Holoverse to sell the world's first holographic NFT (Leonardo Da Vinci's La Bella Principessa) in February 2022.

The business operated a two-sided marketplace monetized primarily through commissions on primary and secondary NFT sales, supplemented by a premium digital studio service that offered curated exhibitions, marketing support, and white-glove Concierge services for high net worth collectors. Go-to-market was event-driven, anchored by high-profile artist partnerships (notably Beeple's $69.3M Christie's auction in March 2021) and physical exhibitions at world-class art fairs including Art Basel (The Digital Mile), Art Week Miami, Digital Art Week Dubai, Digital Art Fair Hong Kong, NFT Paris, and Art Blocks Weekend Marfa. The platform surpassed $100M in cumulative sales and expanded its active collector base tenfold prior to closing a $30M Series A co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Pantera Capital in August 2021, with additional participation from Coinbase Ventures, Sony Music Entertainment, 9Yards Capital, and Uncork Capital.

Following the NFT market contraction that began in late 2022, the company pivoted in 2023 toward a higher-end curated studio model, retiring the "drop" terminology in favor of curated "exhibits." Despite this repositioning, the company ceased operations in 2025, returning unused cash to investors, providing severance to employees, and ensuring all NFTs remained accessible via secondary marketplaces (OpenSea, Rarible) and perpetual IPFS storage through Pinata. Custodial wallets were transitioned to MetaKeep for user claim and transfer.

Name

MakersPlace

Legal name

MakersPlace

Website

https://makersplace.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

MakersPlace was an NFT marketplace and digital art platform founded in 2018 in San Francisco that enabled digital artists to mint and sell authenticated NFTs, serving creators, collectors, and high-net-worth buyers through an online marketplace and curated physical art fair exhibitions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

NFT marketplace for digital art

NAICS

Art Dealers (459920), Securities and Commodity Exchanges (523210)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Art & 1/1 Digital Art NFT Marketplaces (FSADANAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

NFT Commerce, Ticketing & Utility Enablement (token-gated access, memberships, passes, ticketing rails) (FSAPAFAJ)

Keywords

• NFT marketplace platform
• Digital art marketplace
• Blockchain art sales
• Crypto art trading
• Digital collectibles platform

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. NFT Marketplace Commission: MakersPlace operated as a marketplace where artists mint and sell digital art as NFTs, earning commissions on primary sales and secondary market transactions through royalties
2. Premium Studio Services: Higher-end studio experience for launching art exhibitions, featuring curated exhibits with premium marketing and curation expertise for high-value digital art launches

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

MakersPlace operated an Ethereum-based NFT marketplace where independent digital artists minted unique artworks as blockchain tokens and collectors purchased them via either cryptocurrency or fiat payments (credit card / USD). Beyond marketplace transactions, it offered a Premium Digital Studio for curated art exhibitions, a Concierge Program for high-net-worth collectors, and was the first platform to remove crypto onboarding friction through industry-first fiat payment processing and custodial wallet technology.

Product overview

MakersPlace was an NFT marketplace and digital art platform consisting of a Creator Portal enabling artists to mint NFTs, a Marketplace for buying and selling digital art, and a Premium Digital Studio for launching curated exhibitions. The platform offered industry-first features including fiat payment integration (credit card and USD purchases) and custodial wallet technology to make NFTs accessible to non-crypto users. A Concierge Program provided high-net-worth collector services. The platform ceased operations in 2025, with all NFTs remaining accessible via secondary marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible, and permanently stored on IPFS via Pinata.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Creator Portal Creator-facing interface that allowed individual digital artists to mint their artwork as authenticated NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Was the first release of MakersPlace in April 2018 before the marketplace went live.
• Marketplace Core Ethereum-based NFT marketplace where digital artists minted unique artworks and collectors purchased them via cryptocurrency or fiat. Supported primary sales, secondary market trading, royalties, curated exhibits, and iconic auctions including the Beeple Christie's partnership.
• Concierge Program White-glove service for high net worth collectors to acquire and resell premium digital art, providing curated access and personalized support distinct from self-serve marketplace purchases.
• Premium Digital Studio Higher-end studio experience for launching curated digital art exhibitions, combining polished UX, marketing support, and curation expertise for premium artist launches both online and at world-class physical art fairs.

Quantifiable outcome

• $69.3 million from single artwork sale (Beeple's EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• PinatacoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2025Pinata agreed to ensure that all MakersPlace NFT data will be pinned perpetually on IPFS and will continue to be securely stored in their decentralized file system after the platform shut down.
• OpenSeacoreTechnology or IntegrationWorked with OpenSea to implement a mapping approach ensuring legacy tokens with custom IPFS gateway issues link to high-res artwork stored on IPFS by Pinata. Post-shutdown, OpenSea serves as primary secondary marketplace for MakersPlace NFTs.
• The HoloversecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with The Holoverse to sell the world's first holographic NFT - Leonardo Da Vinci's La Bella Principessa in February 2022.
• Christie'sflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Christie's to auction Beeple's 'EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS' after a pre-auction sale on MakersPlace called 'THE 5000 DAY SELECTS'. The artwork sold for $69.3 million, breaking records for digital art.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Nifty Gateway: Nifty Gateway, owned by Gemini, is a curated NFT art marketplace that launched in 2018 alongside MakersPlace. Both platforms pioneered the 'drop' model, hosted Beeple's work, and emphasized fiat payment support and high-profile artist partnerships. Nifty Gateway's institutional backing from Gemini/Winklevoss Capital made it a key competitor.
• SuperRare: SuperRare is a curated NFT art marketplace launched in 2018 that, like MakersPlace, focused on 1/1 digital art from a vetted roster of artists. Both platforms targeted serious collectors rather than speculative trading, and the two were frequently positioned as direct competitors in the premium digital art segment.
• OpenSea: OpenSea is the largest general NFT marketplace, launched in 2018 around the same time as MakersPlace. Both are Ethereum-based NFT trading platforms with primary/secondary sales. OpenSea's broader multi-category focus (PFPs, gaming, art) contrasts with MakersPlace's curated digital art positioning, and OpenSea is now the primary secondary venue for MakersPlace-minted NFTs post-shutdown.
• Rarible: Rarible is a decentralized NFT marketplace that, like MakersPlace, operated as a multi-seller venue for digital art and collectibles. Post-MakersPlace shutdown, Rarible serves as an alternative secondary marketplace for legacy MakersPlace NFTs, and the two companies collaborated on token mapping to ensure legacy displays function correctly.
• KnownOrigin: KnownOrigin was a curated digital art NFT marketplace that, like MakersPlace, focused on 1/1 digital art from vetted artists. It was acquired by eBay in 2022, making it a directly comparable business model in the curated digital art space, though at smaller scale than MakersPlace.
• Foundation: Foundation is a curated NFT art marketplace that launched in 2020 with a similar high-end, artist-curation focus to MakersPlace. Both platforms emphasized community-vetted creators, secondary royalties, and auction-style drops of digital art.
• Zora: Zora is an open NFT marketplace protocol focused on creator-owned media and digital art. Like MakersPlace, Zora emphasizes creator monetization, on-chain provenance, and a curated creator community, though Zora's protocol/marketplace hybrid model differs from MakersPlace's traditional marketplace approach.

Broad incumbents

• Christie's: Christie's is a major traditional auction house that partnered with MakersPlace to auction Beeple's $69.3M EVERYDAYS NFT in 2021. Both organizations now operate in the digital/physical fine art market, and Christie's 3.0 on-chain auction platform overlaps directly with the premium digital art segment MakersPlace served.
• Sotheby's: Sotheby's is a major traditional auction house that entered the NFT market via Sotheby's Metaverse in 2021. Like MakersPlace, Sotheby's targets HNW collectors acquiring premium digital art, and the two competed for the same high-end collector base. Sotheby's has scaled NFT operations more durably.

Emerging players

• Art Blocks: Art Blocks is a leading generative art NFT platform that, like MakersPlace, hosted many of the same digital artists and was featured at the Art Blocks Weekend in Marfa Texas. Art Blocks specializes in generative/algorithmic art, overlapping with MakersPlace artists like Operator, Eko33, and Jeremy Booth, and was a co-exhibitor at Marfa.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about MakersPlace