LimeWire, a file-sharing platform that relaunched as a digital collectibles marketplace, has raised USD $17.5 million in multiple rounds of funding through the sale of its cryptocurrency token, LMWR.
It means that the company exceeded its $15 million funding target and is now more than halfway to its $30 million fundraising limit.
The public sale of the LMWR token kicked off on May 2 and closed on Thursday (May 11). Remaining tokens are set to be burned and LMWR will now go live on multiple global exchanges on Tuesday (May 16).
Those who purchased LMWR tokens will automatically have accounts on limewire.com using the e-mail address that they used during the purchase process. Those who bought LMWR during the community pre-sale period can also claim their tokens via the same process and their LMWR will automatically vest into a LimeWire account that they used on the community sale launchpad, Tokensoft.
The presale raised $400,000 worth of LMWR, with $200,000 sold in the first 30 minutes of the sale.
The development comes as LimeWire transitions into an NFT marketplace after becoming notorious in the early 2000s for facilitating music piracy in its peer-to-peer file-sharing software.
Last year, the company raised $10.4 million in a private sale of its LMWR token. The round was led by Kraken Ventures, Arrington Capital and GSR, and was participated by Crypto.com Capital, CMCC Global, Hivemind, Hard Yaka, Red Beard Ventures, FiveT, 720Mau5, the fund behind Canadian music producer Deadmau5, as well as DAO Jones, a group of investors consisting of high-profile members from the music industry, including well-known electronic music artist Steve Aoki.
At the time, LimeWire said it intends to use the proceeds to grow its team and extend partnerships. It also plans “to onboard major music artists” onto its platform.
Shortly after that announcement, LimeWire struck its first major label deal with Universal Music Group that saw the latter providing licenses to allow LimeWire to partner with UMG artists in order to launch music-based NFT projects using the LimeWire marketplace.
LimeWire last month launched a new subscription service for all kinds of creators and brands, not just musicians.
“Since our relaunch in July last year, we have been actively engaging with artists to understand their needs and aspirations. Through open dialogue and collaboration, we’ve sought to solve ongoing challenges faced by creators in today’s digital landscape, such as difficulties with monetization, content ownership, and community management,” LimeWire said in April.
LimeWire claimed that it is the world’s first artist subscription platform with fully ownable content for fans and followers.
The subscription model will allow fans to subscribe to their favorite creators, artists and brands, as well as purchase limited paid content and interact with other members within the creator’s community.
Through blockchain technology, LimeWire said creators can protect their content from exploitation and piracy. Creators are able to generate passive revenue streams through royalties and pay-per-view income as they mint their content.
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