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Dapper Labs
Dapper Labs is the venture studio behind NBA Top Shot, Disney Pinnacle, and the Flow blockchain. Over $500M raised since 2018.
Dapper Labs
Dapper Labs was founded in 2018 by Roham Gharegozlou and Dieter Shirley, spinning out of Axiom Zen after their 2017 CryptoKitties launch became the first mass-market NFT application. The company operates as a venture studio building consumer products around digital ownership, with a mission to create open infrastructure for digital communities. The firm's portfolio includes NBA Top Shot (over 1.6M collectors, $1.2B+ in lifetime sales), Disney Pinnacle, NFL ALL DAY (132K+ collectors, $160M+ in sales), CryptoKitties (2M+ kitties, 400K+ players), Peak Money (a DeFi yield product), and Miquela (a virtual influencer with 6M+ followers). Dapper Labs also created Flow, a public blockchain network that has processed over 975M transactions and supports 42M+ accounts. The studio operates The Foundry, an internal rapid-prototyping unit for new product bets. Dapper Labs has raised over $500M across 127 investors since 2018. The firm maintains offices in Hong Kong, Vancouver, New York, and Lahore. As of mid-2025, Dapper Labs continues to operate NBA Top Shot under long-term licenses with the NBA and the NBPA, and has expanded into financial products via Peak Money. Dapper Labs' structure as a venture studio — building proprietary blockchain infrastructure (Flow) alongside consumer-facing products — is its key differentiator. Unlike typical crypto firms that focus on protocol development or trading, Dapper Labs funds, prototypes, and operates branded digital collectibles marketplaces under official league licenses.
General information
Firm type
Venture Studio
Year founded
2018
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Asia
Country
Hong Kong
City
Hong Kong
Corporate office
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Additional offices
Vancouver, Canada · New York, United States · Lahore, Pakistan
Principals
Roham Gharegozlou
Founder
Dieter Shirley
Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Dapper Labs?
Roham Gharegozlou, co-founder and CEO, leads strategic direction. The firm does not publicly disclose a dedicated CIO or investment committee. As a venture studio, capital allocation decisions are made by the founding team based on the product-market-fit framework used in The Foundry (per firm website).
How does Dapper Labs source proprietary deal flow?
Dapper Labs builds its own products internally, rather than investing in external startups. The Foundry is where new product bets are rapid-prototyped and tested; winners graduate to standalone products like NBA Top Shot or Peak Money. The firm does not publicly disclose any external deal sourcing program (per firm website).
Is Dapper Labs structured as a single-family office or does it operate more like a venture firm?
Dapper Labs is a venture studio, not a family office. It operates as a private company with over 127 investors. It does not manage external LP capital in a traditional fund structure; instead, it raises equity rounds to fund product development (per firm website).
Does Dapper Labs participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
Dapper Labs builds and operates its own consumer products directly. It does not publicly disclose making fund commitments or external venture investments. Its model is to prototype ideas internally, then scale winners with company resources (per firm website).
What investment stages does Dapper Labs typically target?
Dapper Labs does not target investment stages because it builds its own products. The Foundry prototype stage is early-concept testing; successful products like NBA Top Shot reached commercial scale through company-funded development and licensed partnerships (per firm website).
Which sectors does Dapper Labs explicitly avoid?
Dapper Labs has not publicly stated any sectors it avoids. Its known focus is consumer digital ownership products — collectibles, entertainment, and FinTech. It has not entered crypto trading infrastructure, DeFi lending protocols, or enterprise blockchain services (based on firm website portfolio).
Where does the underlying wealth come from?
Dapper Labs is a private company, not a family office. Its wealth comes from venture capital raises ($500M+ from 127 investors) and revenue from consumer products like NBA Top Shot (per firm website). The founders' personal wealth is not disclosed.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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