Gary Vaynerchuk-Backed Candy Digital and Web3 Production Company Palm NFT Studio Announce Merger

Digital collectibles company Candy Digital and Web3 production firm Palm NFT Studio announced a merger on Thursday, bringing the two powerhouse companies together to expand licensed non-fungible token (NFT) projects across sports, entertainment, art and culture.

According to a press release, the two firms will work together under the Candy Digital name to create digital experiences for sports franchises like Major League Baseball (MLB), NASCAR and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), as well as entertainment giants such as Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery.

Candy Digital is backed by Michael Novogratz’ digital asset firm Galaxy Digital and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, while Palm NFT Studio has received funding from Microsoft's venture fund M12 and Warner Bros. The former raised a $100 million Series A round in October 2021 at a $1.5 billion valuation, while the latter participated in a $27 million funding round in December 2021.

While Candy Digital’s CEO Scott Lawin will oversee both companies post-merger, Palm NFT co-founder and CEO Daniel Heyman will be appointed as president of Candy Digital.

“We’re thrilled to bring together two teams that have been market leaders in innovation and fan engagement,” Lawin told CoinDesk. “Palm NFT Studio shares Candy’s excitement about the role that digital assets will play as the connective tissue between fans, brands and content in Web3, and we’re looking forward to bringing world-class brands like Warner Bros. Discovery and DC to the Candy platform and community.”

Heyman said in a press release that the combined infrastructure of Candy Digital and Palm NFT Studio will help carry forward its mission of building digital brand experiences.

“Candy Digital and Palm NFT Studio’s unified technology platform scales our ability to create transformative experiences for fans,” said Heyman. “We look forward to working with Candy Digital to build the next generation of digital media and engagement.”

The two companies have previously worked together to roll out NFTs and digital collectibles leveraging each other’s infrastructure. In January 2022, Candy Digital teamed up with MLB to release an NFT collection minted on the Palm blockchain, Palm NFT Studio’s native network. In May 2022, stock photo giant Getty Images tapped Candy Digital to release photography NFTs on the Palm blockchain.

In May, Palm NFT Studio rolled out the Palm Generative Art Maker, a tool to help creators mint generative art collections on the blockchain.