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OpenSea

NFT/Web3 marketplaceUSA
New to Unitard
✂️ Markdown
Peak $13.3 BillionToday
~-94%
from peak
  1. 🦄
    Became a unicorn
    2021
  2. 📈
    Peak valuation
    $13.3 Billion ’22
  3. 💔
    Became a Unitard
    ~2023
  4. 💸
    Last valuation
    ~$798M
Current status
~$0.8B on Tiger Global's books (Coatue ~$1.4B)

The rise & fall

7 moments · 2017–2023

The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.

Dec 20 ’17
Founded
Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah launch a marketplace for CryptoKitties-era digital collectibles.
TechCrunch
2021
Joins the unicorn club
An a16z-led round values the NFT marketplace at $1.5B as trading volumes go vertical.
TechCrunch
Jan 2022
The peak: $13.3B$13.3B
A Paradigm and Coatue-led round crowns OpenSea the NFT boom's marketplace of record.
TechCrunch
2022
NFT trading collapses
Volumes crater in the crypto winter; a layoff round follows the boom-era over-hiring.
Bloomberg
2023
Marked out of the club
Investors slash their marks — Coatue by about 90%, Tiger Global roughly 94% — leaving OpenSea valued around $0.8–1.4B on fund books.
The Information
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2022–23
Glassdoor reviews traced how the retrenchment felt inside: staff described a 2022 layoff that followed over-hiring and a much larger cut in late 2023, and reviewers who admired the product faulted leadership priorities that lurched with the volatile crypto market.
Nov 2023
A deeper cut
A second, much larger layoff as the company rebuilds for a leaner NFT market.
TechCrunch

💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.

How it happened

OpenSea was the leading NFT marketplace, reaching a ~$13.3B valuation in early 2022 during the Web3 and NFT boom. The subsequent crash in NFT trading volumes and a broader crypto downturn slashed its activity, and by 2023 its own backers had marked it down sharply — Coatue by about 90% (implying roughly $1.4B) and Tiger Global by roughly 94% (about $0.8B), the deepest mark on record.

Source: Bloomberg (Tiger Global mark −94%, Sep 2023); The Information (Coatue −90%, ≤$1.4B, Q2 2023)

Founders

  • Devin Finzer
    co-founder & CEO
    Still there — Co-Founder and CEOLinkedIn ↗
  • Alex Atallah
    co-founder & CTO
    Now CEO, Co-Founder at OpenRouterLinkedIn ↗

Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-21. See our methodology.

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