Dapper Labs

Crypto / NFT collectibles & blockchainCanada

New to Unitard

✂️ Markdown

Peak $7.6 BillionToday

~-96%

from peak

🦄
Became a unicorn
Mar 2021
📈
Peak valuation
$7.6 Billion ’21
💔
Became a Unitard
Dec 2023
💸
Last valuation
~$304M

Current status

Private and operating NBA Top Shot, NFL ALL DAY and Disney Pinnacle on the Flow blockchain; no new priced round disclosed since 2021

The rise & fall

10 moments · 2018–2026

The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.

Feb 2018

Spun out of Vancouver studio Axiom Zen

The team behind the 2017 CryptoKitties craze forms Dapper Labs to build consumer blockchain products.

Built In Vancouver

Feb 2021

NBA Top Shot trades about $224M in a single month

The Flow-based marketplace for licensed NBA highlight clips hits its record month, per CryptoSlam data.

Decrypt

Mar 30 ’21

$305M led by Coatue at a reported $2.6B$2.6B

Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant and other athletes join the round; Top Shot has passed $500M in sales.

TechCrunch

Sep 22 ’21

The peak: $250M led by Coatue at $7.6B$7.6B

a16z, GV and Version One return, with BOND and GIC new; a source close to the company gives the $7.6B valuation. Top Shot has 1.1 million registered users.

TechCrunch

Nov 2 ’22

Cuts 22% of staff as Top Shot sales slump

The CEO says the company grew too fast, from 100 to over 600 staff in under two years; Top Shot's October sales were just under $2.7M.

Decrypt

Jul 12 ’23

Third round of layoffs in nine months

Up to 51 staff and contractors go after a 20% cut in February; the CEO says Dapper and Flow remain well capitalized.

BetaKit

Dec 31 ’23

BlackRock marks its stake down 89% — joins the Unitard Club

BlackRock's Innovation & Growth Term Trust carries its 191,067 Dapper Labs shares at $17.43 each, against $157.01 in 2021.

SEC NPORT-P

Jun 3 ’24

$4M settlement of the Top Shot securities suit

Plaintiffs had claimed Top Shot Moments were unregistered securities; the deal bars that claim and moves Dapper's remaining FLOW tokens to the Flow Foundation.

CoinDesk

2022–25

From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2022–25

Glassdoor reviews from late 2022 on described repeated layoff rounds and shifting direction from leadership, though many praised their colleagues. The average rating fell from 4.6 in 2021 to about 2.4 in 2023 and 2.5 in 2024.

Jun 30 ’26

BlackRock mark falls to $6.63 a share

About 96% below the 2021 price, with the share count unchanged since December 2021.

SEC NPORT-P

Today

Still private — the funds keep marking

BlackRock Innovation & Growth Trust marks it at $39.47/share · -75% from its peak mark · as of Mar 2023

SEC NPORT-P

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

How it happened

Dapper Labs, spun out of Vancouver studio Axiom Zen in 2018, made the CryptoKitties game, the Flow blockchain and NBA Top Shot, which sells licensed basketball highlight clips as NFTs. Top Shot's early-2021 boom drew a Coatue-led $305M round in March 2021 at a reported $2.6B.

That September Coatue led a $250M round that a source told TechCrunch valued the company at $7.6B. Top Shot's monthly trading fell from about $224M in February 2021 to under $2.7M in October 2022, CryptoSlam data showed. Dapper cut staff three times between November 2022 and July 2023.

In 2024 it agreed to a $4M settlement of an investor suit claiming Top Shot Moments were unregistered securities. Mutual-fund filings show BlackRock marked its Dapper shares about 96% below their 2021 price by June 2026.

Mutual-fund markdowns

5 funds · SEC NPORT-P

How U.S. mutual funds fair-value this still-private company in their quarterly SEC filings.

Per-share mark from peak

-75%

BlackRock Innovation & Growth Trust

$157.01 → $39.47

as of Mar 2023

Fund	$/sh	From peak	As of
BlackRock Innovation & Growth Trust	$39.47	-75%	Mar 2023
BlackRock Innovation & Growth Term Trust	$12.92	-69%	Dec 2024
ADAMS STREET PRIVATE EQUITY NAVIGATOR FUND LLC	$30.12	-96%	Jun 2026
BlackRock Technology and Private Equity Term Trust	$8.18	-29%	Dec 2025
BlackRock Technology & Private Equity Term Trust	$6.63	-6%	Jun 2026

Source: SEC EDGAR Form NPORT-P (Level-3 fair-value marks). Per-share marks reflect the fund’s own valuation of a specific share class and aren’t a company-wide valuation. Last refreshed Oct 2026.

Source: TechCrunch (Mar 30, 2021): $305M round led by Coatue at $2.6B per multiple reports. TechCrunch (Sept 22, 2021): $250M led by Coatue with a16z, GV, Version One, BOND and GIC, $7.6B per a source close to the company; The Block the same day. SEC NPORT-P, BlackRock Innovation & Growth Trust (renamed Innovation & Growth Term Trust, then Technology & Private Equity Term Trust; one CIK): Dapper Labs stock, 127,378 sh at $157.01 (Sept 30, 2021), raised to 191,067 sh at the same price (Dec 2021) and constant since: $73.60 (June 2022), $32.50 (Dec 2022), $17.43 (Dec 2023), $12.92 (Dec 2024), $8.18 (Dec 2025), $6.63 (June 30, 2026). dropPct 96 = 1 - 6.63/157.01. The Adams Street track (post-crash entry, share-count change in Q1 2026) is not used. Decrypt (Nov 2, 2022), CryptoSlam data: Top Shot secondary sales just under $2.7M in Oct 2022 against about $224M in Feb 2021. Decrypt (Nov 3, 2022), BetaKit (Feb 24 and July 13, 2023): layoffs of 22%, 20% and up to 51 staff. CoinDesk (June 3, 2024): $4M settlement of the Top Shot securities class action, terms barring claims that the NFTs are securities.

Founders

Roham Gharegozlou
co-founder & CEO (led at peak)
Still there — CEOLinkedIn ↗
Dieter Shirley
co-founder & technical lead
Now Chief System Architect at Flow FoundationLinkedIn ↗
Mikhael Naayem
co-founder & chief business officer
Now Board Member at Axiom ZenLinkedIn ↗