UnicornDAO raises US$ 4.5 million to empower women and LGBTQ+ artists

On Thursday, art and investment collective UnicornDAO announced it has raised US$ 4.5 million to support women and LGBTQ artists and projects and collected US$ 1.4 million worth of NFT art from underrepresented Web3 artists so far. 

UnicornDAO is a collecting fund led by Pussy Riot co-founder and social activist Nadya Tolokonnikova and John Cladwell from Russia. Its members include more than 30 artists, cryptocurrency investors and art collectors such as Mike Winkleman (aka Beeple), Gary Vaynerchuk, Grimes, Sia, MoonPay, Polygon and Yuga Labs, creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club and World of Women. 

UnicornDAO said that it redistributes wealth and visibility to create equality and opportunities for women-identified and LGBTQ+ people in the world and the digital art space.

The DAO also describes itself as ‘a feminist movement that consists of Web3 native people who are using Web3-based tools to create much-needed equality in the Web3 space.’ It aims to provide financial support, education and resources to underrepresented artists in support of their creative endeavours. 

‘We are happy to support UnicornDAO's mission to fund businesses and purchase NFTs created by women and LGBTQ+ people to help onboard new creators to Web3,’ said Yuga Labs CEO Nicole Muniz in a statement. Muniz added that she might be donating a seat within the UnicornDAO to a woman or LGBTQ+ chief who may not be able to afford the fee.

On Sunday, U.S. artist Grimes donated her music video ‘New Gods’ to the DAO, and announced that she had joined the UnicornDAO board.

A DAO, aka a decentralized autonomous group is a community centered on a common goal that shares a treasury, smart contracts and governance tokens for voting on proposals. UnicornDAO will expand its agenda to include a political division - UnicornRiot for assembling and fundraising for activism with a focus on reproductive rights in the U.S. 

While a membership for UnicornRiot is free of cost, prospective membership of UnicornDAO is limited to 21. Members of  UnicornDAO are also required to contribute finances, time and effort to support the DAO, with initial investors being granted board seats.

This week, UnicornDAO has opened its membership to the general public. It will hold an in-person launch event at NFT NYC in New York on June 21 to announce more details.  

Photo: UnicornDAO