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Space Runners develops digital wearable non-fungible tokens, establishing itself as a metaverse fashion brand. The company creates interoperable fashion items designed to integrate across various Web3 metaverses and games. Through collaborations with prominent figures and brands, Space Runners delivers unique digital collections, leveraging a platform that facilitates seamless design and creation within the evolving digital landscape.
The company was founded in 2021 by Won Soh and Deniz Ozgur. Soh, with prior experience at McKinsey and Google, joined forces with Ozgur, recognized for her contributions to the tech sector, to address the nascent demand for authentic digital fashion experiences. Their insight centered on the potential for Web3 to redefine creative expression and ownership within virtual environments.
Space Runners serves brands and individual users seeking avenues for creative self-expression and community engagement in digital realms. Its long-term vision is to redefine the intersection of fashion and technology, fostering cultural experimentation and innovative digital ownership within the metaverse. The company aims to empower creators and consumers alike to navigate and shape the future of virtual identity.
Space Runners has raised $10.0M across 1 funding round.
Space Runners has raised $10.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Space Runners is a fashion-tech company founded in 2021 in Houston, Texas, that designs and launches digital wearable NFTs for metaverses in collaboration with celebrities and brands.[1][2][3] It builds tools to enable creators to design, innovate, collaborate, and market fashion in Web3, merging fashion and technology to redefine IP ownership through phygital drops and partnerships, particularly bringing SmileyWorld to blockchain ecosystems.[1][4][5] Serving fashion brands, celebrities, creators, and metaverse users, Space Runners solves the challenge of bridging physical fashion with digital worlds by providing intuitive platforms for NFT-based wearables, addressing fragmented design and ownership in virtual environments.[2][3][5] The company has raised funding from prominent investors like Accel, Pantera Capital, Goodwater Capital, and Core Ventures Group, indicating strong early momentum in the NFT and metaverse space.[1]
Space Runners emerged in 2021 amid the rise of Web3 and metaverses, founded in Houston, Texas, with a focus on fashion-tech innovation.[1] Key team members include Deniz Özgür, a growth hacker from Istanbul with a background in economics and business from Boğaziçi Üniversitesi and experience at Techsign.[1] The idea stemmed from the need to revolutionize fashion design and launch processes in digital realms, evolving from conceptualizing SmileyWorld—a blend of iconic fashion IP with blockchain—to building practical tools for NFT wearables and phygital products.[1][4] Early traction came through securing investments from top-tier VCs like Accel and Pantera Capital, which specialize in blockchain and consumer tech, signaling pivotal validation in a nascent market.[1]
Space Runners rides the metaverse and Web3 fashion trend, capitalizing on the explosion of virtual worlds where digital wearables represent a multi-billion-dollar opportunity amid growing NFT adoption.[2][3] Timing aligns with post-2021 blockchain maturation, where fashion brands seek phygital strategies to engage Gen Z consumers who prioritize digital ownership—market forces like metaverse platform growth (e.g., Decentraland, Roblox) and luxury brands' NFT pivots amplify this.[1][4] By enabling creator tools and celebrity collaborations, it influences the ecosystem, democratizing fashion design and accelerating IP tokenization, positioning itself as a bridge between traditional apparel and blockchain economies.[5]
Space Runners is poised to expand its platform with more SmileyWorld integrations and metaverse partnerships, potentially scaling to enterprise tools for major fashion houses as VR/AR hardware advances.[1][2] Trends like AI-driven design and mass-adopted metaverses will shape its path, boosting growth if it navigates crypto volatility. Its influence could evolve from niche NFT launcher to core infrastructure for digital fashion, redefining ownership in a borderless creator economy—echoing its founding mission to merge fashion and tech at Web3's forefront.[4][5]
Space Runners has raised $10.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Space Runners's investors include Alchemy Ventures, Ambush Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Animoca Brands, Awesome People Ventures, Batalion Capital, Broadstone, Capital Factory, Form Capital, Goat Capital, Haun Ventures, HawksHead Capital.
Space Runners has raised $10.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $10.0M Seed in March 2022.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 2022 | $10M Seed | — | Alchemy Ventures, Ambush Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Animoca Brands, Awesome People Ventures, Batalion Capital, Broadstone, Capital Factory, Form Capital, Goat Capital, Haun Ventures, Hawkshead Capital, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, NOT Boring Capital, BEN HUH, Pantera Capital, Pharos Capital Group, Redpoint Ventures, Robot Ventures, Scalar Capital, Seven Seven SIX, Sound Ventures, The HIT Forge, Timespan Ventures, Todd And Rahul's Angel Fund, Union Square Ventures, Anthony Pompliano, Balaji Srinivasan, Bobby Goodlatte, Casey Neistat, Chris Kurdziel, Courtney Guertin, Ethan Beard, Fernando Martinelli, Itamar Lesuisse, Jess Sloss, JOE Stump, Michael Dunworth, Narendra Rocherolle, Paul Stamatiou, Reggie James, Ricky Engelberg, Scott Belsky, Shishir Mehrotra, Stani Kulechov, Tegan Kline, William Boebel | Announced |
