Fanaply
Techstars '20Huntington, US Β· Founded 2018 Β· 7 employees on LinkedIn Β· 3 known investors
Fanaply is a fan intelligence platform for live events that captures consented first-party attendee behavioral data and converts it into sponsor ROI reports, audience segments, and event insights. It serves event operators, promoters, brands/sponsors, and agencies.
Also known as fanOP Entertainment Β· FanOP Entertainment Inc.
Investors Β· 3
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Fanaply, operated by FanOP Entertainment Inc., is a fan engagement platform serving sports, music and entertainment rights holders. The company was established in 2018 and built a blockchain-based platform for creating, publishing, promoting and selling digital collectibles (NFTs) on behalf of brands, artists, festivals, teams and events. Its product set has included the Fanaply Marketplace, through which partners could release paid and free NFTs to fans; a white-label marketplace that embedded the marketplace into a partner's existing digital properties; a Fanaply community offering; and a Shopify app allowing merchants to sell NFTs alongside existing products.
Fanaply positions itself as a turnkey provider delivering end-to-end, integrated programs rather than a self-serve consumer marketplace, and has emphasized environmental impact by limiting blockchain use to critical steps in the process and, through a partnership with Offsetra, making platform transactions carbon neutral. Named partners and issuers of Fanaply NFTs include American Express, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, the New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche, Misfits Gaming, Death Row Records, Niall Horan, 5 Seconds of Summer, the Kentucky Derby and Bubba Wallace, along with NFT campaigns for Rolling Loud, Just For Laughs and Calibash.
More recent company announcements describe Fanaply as a gamification platform for festivals that converts attendee actions into rewards and increased engagement, with partnerships covering major U.S. festivals including AmericanaFest, Riot Fest and Warped Tour.
Founding story
The company was founded in 2018 by CEO Grant Dexter and co-founder Edward Vetri.
Business model
Fanaply supplies rights holders and brands with an integrated platform and services for creating and distributing digital collectibles, including white-label deployment into partners' own digital channels and a Shopify integration for merchants.
Revenue is generated by taking a percentage of non-fungible token sales made through the platform.
Traction
As of 2021, more than 300,000 NFTs had been sold or distributed via the Fanaply platform, and the company had run programs with brands, artists, festivals and sports teams including American Express, Coachella, the New Jersey Devils, the Kentucky Derby and Death Row Records.
Latest developments
Company announcements describe Fanaply as a gamification platform for festivals, with expansion to major U.S. festivals via AmericanaFest and Riot Fest partnerships and a year capped by Warped Tour and Riot Fest partnerships.
βΈFull profile β market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Described in company communications as an NFT platform partner for leading sports, entertainment and music brands, active in blockchain-based fan engagement since 2018, ahead of broader NFT market awareness.
Fully integrated, end-to-end turnkey NFT programs for large IP holders, combined with an environmentally conscious approach that limits on-chain activity and offsets transactions to carbon neutral through Offsetra.
Technology
A blockchain-based platform for minting, publishing, promoting and selling digital collectibles, designed to use the blockchain only for critical elements of the process to reduce environmental footprint; transactions are made carbon neutral via a partnership with Offsetra. Products include a hosted marketplace, a white-label marketplace integration and a Shopify app.
Go-to-market
Direct enterprise business development with sports, music and entertainment properties and brands, supported by a dedicated commercial and business development leadership team hired in 2021-2022 covering entertainment, sports and music verticals; distribution is also extended through white-label integrations and the Shopify app.
Global intellectual property rights holders and brands in sports, music and entertainment β including artists, record labels, festivals, events, athletes, comedians, sports teams and consumer brands β as well as Shopify merchants.
Geography
Headquartered in New York, US, with partnerships spanning major U.S. festivals and events.
History
Founded in 2018 as FanOP Entertainment Inc., trading as Fanaply, the company developed a blockchain-based fan engagement and digital collectibles platform. It closed a seed round in November 2021 co-led by Alpha Edison and Elysian Park Ventures β the private investment arm affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group β with participation from CyberAgent Capital. In January 2022 it expanded its commercial leadership with the appointment of Danielle Maged as Chief Commercial Officer and Sam Huntington and Holly Olstein Bernabe as Vice Presidents of Business Development. Subsequent announcements describe an expansion into festival gamification with AmericanaFest, Riot Fest and Warped Tour partnerships.
Compiled by commissioned research from 2 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Timeline Β· 6
launches, deals, and filingsFormer StubHub Global Head of Partnerships and Business Development and Fox Networks EVP Danielle Maged, previously an advisor to Fanaply, was named Chief Commercial Officer to oversee commercial and business strategy.
Sam Huntington joined as Vice President of Business Development, Music & Entertainment, and Holly Olstein Bernabe as Vice President of Business Development, Entertainment & Sports.
Fanaply, described as a gamification platform for festivals, announced partnerships expanding to major U.S. festivals including AmericanaFest and Riot Fest.
Through a partnership with Offsetra, transactions on the Fanaply platform are stated to be 100% carbon neutral.
Fanaply announced partnerships with Warped Tour and Riot Fest, capping the year for its festival gamification platform.
FanOP Entertainment Inc. (trading as Fanaply) raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding co-led by Alpha Edison, Elysian Park Ventures and CyberAgent Capital; a 2022 company release described the round as co-led by Alpha Edison and Elysian Park Ventures with participation from CyberAgent Capital.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
βΈResearch sources Β· 2
primary sources listed
- FanOP Entertainment Inc. Asset Profile | Preqinpreqin.com Β· web
2 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Fanaply do?
- Fanaply is a fan engagement platform for sports, music and entertainment brands, originally built around blockchain-based digital collectibles.
- Who are Fanaply's investors?
- Fanaply's investors include Alpha Edison, Techstars, Elysian Park Ventures.
- Where is Fanaply headquartered?
- Fanaply is headquartered in Huntington, US.