If you follow the non-fungible token (NFT) space, you may have noticed the social conversation accompanying trading of licenced NFTs on different platforms like Twitter, Telegram and Discord. Combining these two experiences on a single platform, Pune and Singapore-based ‘NFT Labs’ Web 3.0 startup has developed Itsmyne a “social network meets marketplace” for licenced NFTs.
Founded in 2021 by Atharva Sabnis and Ayan Uali, NFT Labs, Inc. is exploring big ideas in community, utility and engagement to push the NFT and metaverse space forward. Itsmyne is nearing its launch, with a waitlist of over 50,000 users. NFT Labs, Inc. also provides the vision, experience, and technology for Web 2.0 brands to leverage the Web 3.0 opportunity. The startup was the official NFT partner of the “2022 Global Sports Tech Summit” and has earned recognition from the Celo Foundation, Polygon and NEAR Protocol.
In the beginning…
Pune-born Atharva had his upbringing in Sudan, North Africa and did his higher education in Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), New York in USA. It’s this university where during 2010-14, he met his co-founder Ayan, who is a citizen of Kazakhstan and based out of Almaty city. Atharva was doing double major in finance and economics with minor in computer science while Ayan was there for software engineering with economics as the second major.
Says Atharva, “While I was pursuing higher education, bitcoin was gaining its first traction. But then, I didn’t have the vision that cryptocurrencies or blockchain would be the next big thing. In 2015, I came back to India and started looking for job. I did internships in two companies – one in Shanghai and other in Miami – but felt disillusioned in the investment banking workspace. Back there, I was reading about startup boom in India. Entrepreneurship was a calling for me, and I was feeling FOMO – the fear of missing out.”
“I started my first venture of in-taxi tablets and advertisements…
