Pass It Down secures nearly $2 million in investments to create world's first NFT marketplace for museums and archives

BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Digital storytelling company Pass It Down has raised nearly $2 million from investors to create and launch Iconic Moments, the world's first NFT marketplace exclusively for the world's museums and cultural institutions.

Pass It Down currently works with museums and cultural centers around the world to create interactive experiences through its cloud-based digital design platform. Pass It Down's clients include major brands such as Porsche and Procter & Gamble, museums such as the Museum of Broadcast Communications, and municipalities such as Portland, Ore., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Sarasota, Fla.

Iconic Moments, created by the team behind Pass It Down, partners with a growing network of history, sports, and art museums and archives to create NFTs (non-fungible tokens) of art, video clips, audio clips, and other artifacts sourced from the museums' collections.

With Iconic Moments, individuals can own a piece of history or art as an NFT while helping museums generate additional revenue, display and share pieces that are rarely on display, and build digital engagement. The museum retains ownership of the original piece while the limited-edition NFTs are generated from the original piece.

The Iconic Moments marketplace allows museums and archives to capitalize on the booming NFT industry. In 2020, NFT transactions worldwide totaled $200 million. In the first quarter of 2021, there were more than $2.1 billion in NFT transactions. While the NFT industry offers significant opportunities, it also has a significant carbon footprint, which is why Iconic Moments is incorporating energy efficiency into the platform, using carbon offsets, and exploring the integration of blockchain platform Polygon.

"Over the last five years, Pass It Down has built relationships with hundreds of cultural institutions around the world and we have seen first-hand the devastation that COVID-19 had on museums, culture and the arts. In November of 2020, our team of technologists, curators, executive directors, and artists began to explore what a new financial model for the cultural heritage industry might look like. How could we make these institutions less dependent on ticket sales and once-a-year fundraising galas?" said Chris Cummings, founder and CEO of Iconic Moments. "Today, we are excited to unveil Iconic Moments, where we're using the world's newest emerging technology to innovate one of the world's oldest industries."

Iconic Moments' seed funding round generated nearly $2 million in investments from lead investor VentureSouth, joined by Cultivation Capital, Techstars, Red Stick Angels and Acadian Capital Ventures. This funding will support Iconic Moments' growth, including hiring additional staff and enhancing the Iconic Moments blockchain marketplace. The Iconic Moments NFT marketplace will launch in the fourth quarter of 2021.

"We are excited to partner again with Chris and the team at Pass It Down to help them extend the Pass It Down product portfolio with the launch of Iconic Moments," said Matt Dunbar, co-founder and managing director at VentureSouth. "There is such incredibly rich content stored in the archives of the world's museums, cultural institutions, and brands and this platform will create a tremendous opportunity to share those artifacts with the world while also creating new economic opportunities for both the institutions and those who would like to own a piece of history."

About Iconic Moments
Iconic Moments is the world's first NFT marketplace for the world's museums, archives and cultural institutions. Created by the team behind digital exhibit design platform Pass It Down, Iconic Moments gives individuals the opportunity to own a piece of history or art while generating new and sustained revenue for its museum partners. The Iconic Moments NFT marketplace will launch in late 2021. For more information about Iconic Moments, visit http://www.iconicmoments.co.

Media Contact

Elizabeth Rose, Iconic Moments, +1 3375400416, [email protected]

SOURCE Pass It Down