Tag Archives: Rahmat Albariqi

Co-founder Afiq Shofy Ramadhan and Rahmat Albariqi (center) with Paras Digital team

Paras Digital NFT Marketplace Platform Secures 71.8 Billion Rupiah Funding

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Paras Digital’s NFT marketplace platform received of $5 million or around 71.8 billion Rupiah seed funding. It was obtained through an Initial Dex Offering (IDO) and investments by a number of investors.

As stated in the website, some of the investors involved in this round include Black Dragon Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Moonwhale Capital, Digital Renaissance, GFS Ventures, Global Coin Research, OKEx Blocdream Ventures, as well as several other venture capital and angel investors.

The Co-founder, Rahmat Albariqi said this funding will be used to scale up its business, including to expand NFT assets vertical on the NEAR Protocol, such as comics, games, and toys.

“The NFT popularity is increasing this year, and there are many opportunities we haven’t discovered. We believe [market] research and expansion into new verticals can maintain the NFT value. By adding value to digital assets, we can create a big change for NFT in the future,” says the man familiarly called Riqi.

Paras was founded in late December 2020 by Rahmat Albariqi and Afiq Shofy Ramadhan, and was fully developed by a team from Indonesia. Prior to funding, Riqi claimed to have worked on several projects with creators to create and release their IP on the NEAR Protocol.

It wants to open up opportunities for anyone with passion to develop their IP in the crypto world. Currently, Riqi and his team are pushing for the development of crypto-natives IP to be built on Paras.

“We aim to be a pioneer in the transformation of games, comics, toys, and works through smart contract capabilities and blockchain technology. Therefore, we want to open up a lot of access by offering content through various media,” he said.

Several local platforms have started to initiate a marketplace-based NFT platform. Two of them are Tokomall by Tokocrypto and Kolektibel.

Digital comic project and target market

In separate occasion, Riqi revealed that his team is currently working on three digital comic projects using NFT. The first Paras Comic project has just launched and the content is created by in-house creators.

Meanwhile, the majority of Paras users come from crypto-native and tech savvy level. However, Riqi said that the platform has started to be used by early adopters not new to blockchain and cryptocurrency technology.

Paras Digital will expand NFT assets to multiple verticals, such as comics and games

“We are targeting the pop-culture enthusiast market, such as fandom and gamers with a focus on China and Southeast Asia. To date, our total sales volume has reached $550 thousand from a total of 400 thousand transactions,” he said. Since Paras is built on the NEAR Protocol, this transaction is only available using NEAR cryptocurrency.

Riqi said that crypto volatility remains a different challenge. Especially when the crypto market declines, transactions and sales will automatically follow. However, he admits that he is passionate about pursuing the crypto world considering that there is always something new in the blockchain ecosystem.

“This requires us to be constantly learning and innovating. Even though most of Paras’ core team are from Indonesia, we still have to update about innovations happening in other parts of the world. Not to mention about the time difference between Indonesia and several countries as ‘blockchain epicenters’ like Lisbon and the United States,” he added.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Co-founder Afiq Shofy Ramadhan dan Rahmat Albariqi (tengah) dengan tim Paras Digital

Platform Marketplace NFT “Paras Digital” Peroleh Pendanaan 71,8 Miliar Rupiah

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Platform marketplace NFT Paras Digital memperoleh pendanaan tahap awal (seed) sebesar $5 juta atau sekitar 71,8 Miliar Rupiah. Pendanaan ini diperoleh melalui Initial Dex Offering (IDO) dan investasi sejumlah investor.

Sebagaimana disampaikan dalam blognya, beberapa investor yang terlibat dalam putaran ini di antaranya Black Dragon Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Moonwhale Capital, Digital Renaissance, GFS Ventures, Global Coin Research, OKEx Blocdream Ventures, serta beberapa venture capital dan angel investor lainnya.

Menurut Co-founder Rahmat Albariqi, pendanaan ini akan digunakan untuk meningkatkan skala bisnisnya, termasuk memperluas vertikal aset NFT pada NEAR Protocol, seperti komik, game, dan mainan.

“Popularitas NFT terus meningkat tahun ini, dan kami melihat ada banyak peluang yang belum kami temukan. Kami yakin riset [pasar] dan perluasan ke vertikal baru dapat menjaga nilai NFT. Dengan menambah nilai ke aset digital, kami dapat menciptakan perubahan besar bagi NFT di masa depan,” ujar pria yang akrab disapa Riqi ini.

Paras didirikan pada akhir Desember 2020 oleh Rahmat Albariqi and Afiq Shofy Ramadhan, dan sepenuhnya dikembangkan oleh tim dari Indonesia. Sebelum memperoleh pendanaan, Riqi mengaku telah mengerjakan beberapa proyek bersama kreator untuk membuat dan merilis IP mereka pada NEAR Protocol.

Pihaknya ingin membuka kesempatan bagi siapapun yang memiliki semangat mengembangkan IP miliknya di dunia kripto. Saat ini, Riqi bersama tim tengah mendorong pengembangan crypto-natives IP yang akan dibangun di atas Paras.

“Kami ingin mencoba menjadi pelopor transformasi pada game, komik, mainan, dan karya lewat kemampuan smart contract dan teknologi blockchain. Maka itu, kami ingin membuka banyak akses dengan menawarkan konten melalui berbagai media,” tuturnya.

Beberapa platform lokal juga mulai menginisiasi platform NFT berbasis marketplace. Dua di antaranya Tokomall milik Tokocrypto dan Kolektibel.

Proyek digital comic dan target pasar

Dihubungi secara terpisah, Riqi mengungkap bahwa pihaknya saat ini tengah menggarap tiga proyek digital comic dengan menggunakan NFT. Proyek perdananya Paras Comic baru saja meluncur yang mana kontennya dikerjakan oleh kreator in-house.

Adapun, mayoritas pengguna Paras berasal dari kalangan crypto-native dan tech savvy. Namun, Riqi menyebut platformnya mulai digunakan oleh kalangan early adopter yang belum awam terhadap teknologi blockchain dan cryptocurrency.

Paras Digital NFT
Paras Digital akan memperluas aset NFT ke beberapa vertikal, seperti komik dan game

“Kami membidik pasar pop-culture enthusiast, seperti fandom dan gamer dengan fokus pada Tiongkok dan Asia Tenggara. Hingga saat ini, total volume penjualan kami mencapai $550 ribu dari total 400 ribu transaksi,” tuturnya. Mengingat Paras dibangun di atas NEAR Protocol, transaksi jual-beli ini baru bisa menggunakan cryptocurrency NEAR.

Riqi menilai volatilitas kripto tetap menjadi tantangan tersendiri. Apalagi ketika pasar kripto menurun, otomatis transaksi dan penjualan akan mengikuti. Kendati begitu, ia mengaku bersemangat menekuni dunia kripto mengingat selalu ada hal baru di ekosistem blockchain.

“Ini yang mengharuskan kami untuk constantly learning and innovating. Meski kebanyakan core team Paras berasal dari Indonesia, kami tetap harus update tentang inovasi yang terjadi di belahan dunia sana. Belum lagi bicara soal perbedaan waktu antara Indonesia dan beberapa negara yang menjadi ‘epicenter blockchain‘ seperti Lisbon dan Amerika Serikat,” tambahnya.