Spanish football club FC Barcelona has secured a €120 million ($132 million) investment from Libero Football Finance AG and Nipa Capital B.V. for its Web3-focused initiative named Barça Vision.

In exchange for the funds, FC Barcelona sold a 29.5% interest in Bridgeburg Invest, the holding company for Barça Vision, according to the August 11 release.

 "Barça Vision is the Club's initiative to integrate all digital content around Web3 and blockchain, including NFTs and metaverse, which are part of the Club's strategy to build the digital Espai Barça," developers stated.

FC Barcelona has been working with the Chiliz blockchain to produce Ethereum-based FC Barcelona Fan Tokens (BAR) for its sports franchise since February 2020.

Chiliz revealed in August 2022 that it had paid $100 million for a 24.5% ownership in FC Barcelona's digital content creation department, Barça Vision.

FC Barcelona debuted its first NFT collection with Plastiks in May. The collection, dubbed "Unleash Your Passion," includes 3,000 animal-themed NFTs for $30 apiece, which the club claims will contribute to "removing 35,000,000 kilograms of plastic from our planet."

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/fc-barcelona-secures-132-investment-blockchain-nft-venture

https://blockster.com/fc-barcelona-scores-eu120-million-investment-for-barca-vision-web3-initiative

https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/news/3626270/fc-barcelona-official-announcement