Dapper Labs acquired Brud and established a new DAO-focused department "Dapper Collectives"

This article comes fromDecrypt, Original Author: Andrew Hayward

Odaily Translator | Nian Yin Si Tang

Summary:

This article comes from

, Original Author: Andrew Hayward

Odaily Translator | Nian Yin Si TangSummary:and- Dapper Labs launched a new business unit focused on building tools for DAOs.- The company has acquired Brud, the startup behind virtual influencer Lil Miquela.

From CryptoKitties in 2017 to this spring's NBA Top Shot, Dapper Labs has been a major force in bringing NFTs to a wider audience. Now, with the company on its Flow blockchain

Launch a new NFT project

and

, the company is turning its attention to another potentially sizable cryptocurrency opportunity: The DAO.

Today, the company exclusively revealed to Decrypt that it has created a new business unit, Dapper Collectives, which will focus on DAOs. To kickstart the process, Dapper Labs acquired Brud, a startup focused on community building and unique forms of storytelling.

Because of its flat structure, advocates argue that a DAO can shake up the traditional corporate model and maintain value within the community that created it. However, the tools used to run such organizations are in their early stages and are still being developed, and users must be highly savvy with crypto-related technologies and often hold a significant stake in tokens to participate.

Dapper Labs believes it can help simplify the process of creating, operating, and participating in DAOs, both for individual creators and established companies that see a future of decentralization and embracing the Web3 world.

image description

Lil Miquela, a virtual "net celebrity". Image source: Instagram

Brud co-founder and CEO Trevor McFedries will lead Dapper Collectives. This decision was actually also based on McFedries' experience outside of Brud - McFedries is also the founder of Friends With Benefits, a social DAO and one of the most prominent communities in the burgeoning DAO space, with a token market cap of about $75 million (disclosure: he is also an advisor to the Decrypt DAO project).

Dapper did not disclose the specific terms of the acquisition, but stated that the acquisition is based on equity. Brud's 32-person team -- including executive president Kara Weber and chief content officer Nicole de Ayora -- will join Dapper, bringing its total headcount to 262.

“The DAO is probably the area we’re most interested in after NFTs and is very complementary to what we’re doing, whether it’s with big brands or our own IP,” Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou told Decrypt, “Trevor and His team is the best in the business."

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From Miquela to DAO

Brud's Lil Miquela is an ongoing experiment in community building and social storytelling that will help guide the work of the Dapper Collectives team, he said. Next, it will create the tools and infrastructure to power future decentralized communities on the Flow blockchain — open source components that will be available to all.

McFedries explained to Decrypt: “Dapper Collectives will encapsulate our vision for a DAO-driven and decentralized media future.”

“We already had a very strong audience and fan base who were passionate about everything we do [with Miquela],” he continued, “but traditionally, they—fans and creators—were Isolated in different ecosystems. We want to bring these people together so that everyone can share in the value created within the organization.”

While Lil Miquela is Brud's magnum opus to date, Dapper Collectives' goal isn't to develop virtual influencers, it's to draw on Brud's experience in community building and experimentation—especially McFedries' own experience with DAOs— Translated into tools and products to power DAOs on Flow while supporting NFTs and other projects. McFedries called Lil Miquela "a symbol of what we all go through online."

"We're all telling our stories to the world, sharing our stories," he said, "and now, a lot of the value we create through those stories is captured by platforms, whether you're a single brand, an individual, or a group of creators. We What I want to do is use Miquela to show a better future. And use the tools we're creating to change that future."

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DAO for everyone

Dapper Collectives will take two different approaches to DAO development. On the one hand, it will release tools that allow creators of all types to build their own DAO communities on Flow. At the same time, the team will also consult and collaborate with existing brands and companies to help them transition to the decentralized Web3 world.