Artifact Labs is a web3 firm that is working towards preserving records of historical events on the blockchain. The firm was initially incubated by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post(SCMP). Back in 2021, SCMP an NFT(Non-Fungible Token) standard called ARTIFACT for recording historical data. In a press release, Artifact Labs said that it will be releasing NFT collections as a revenue stream for firms involved in preserving history. The firm is also developing and releasing technology to help institutions preserve their archives on-chain.
Artifact Labs has recently closed a $3.25 million funding round that was led by Blue Pool Capital. The financing round also garnered participation from Animoca Ventures. Blue Pool Capital is a fund that principally invests the wealth of Alibaba founders Jack Ma and Joe Tsai. In a statement, Artifact Labs has said that it will utilize the proceeds of this financing round to facilitate the expansion of its operations and increasing its developer workforce.
SCMP, the firm that initially incubated Artifact Labs, was originally involved in brief business of selling NFTs of its newspapers’ historical front pages including the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, The death of UK’s princess Diana, the Avian Flu outbreak and the Asian Financial crisis. The newspaper business run from 2021 to 2022. Artifact Labs has inherited some of these NFT collections which are available on its online platform.
According to Phillip Pon, the CEO of Artifact Labs, the firm intents to carve a space that is appealing to the young people’s consciousness for historical brands and artifacts while at the same time supporting preserving organizations with new revenue streams to fund their preservation work. By solidifying immutable on-chain data preservation through NFTs, the firm aims to change the narrative in the sector from creating new IPs for speculation, that is, NFT hype projects, to driving new engagements with historically significant collections by using web3.
Artifact Labs has a mission to preserve an connect history on the blockchain. This mission will ensure the immutable protection of valuable assets and lead to the development of web3 products and platforms to unlock the power of historical NFTs. The firm’s ecosystem is built around the ARTIFACT standard that is governed by Artifact Foundation – a non-profit foundation that is responsible for its evolution and growth. The foundation also authenticates all Artifacts issuers. The firm also has a council of global experts that guides the work of the foundation which includes the path to a decentralized future for the Artifact Standard.
