Mintable, toil, and trouble: the legal wranglings at an NFT marketplace

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Hello reader,

It’s been a while since I’ve sat down to read a long, gripping story.

Chalk it up to social media, but I feel like my attention span has waned over the last few years. That said, I’m still a sucker for a good tale, and today’s feature is certainly up there in terms of crazy stuff going on.

I think that out of all of the juicy stories we’ve published over the years, our report about Mintable spills the most tea and is filled with WTF twists and turns.

Thanks to some excellent reporting from Scott Shuey, you can read all about Mintable’s turbulent journey over the last year or so. Get a closer look at some legal battles, a whole host of accusations, and a truly unenviable falling out between the firm’s top leadership.

Today we look at:

• Mintable’s rollercoaster ride
• Line Next’s US$140 million fundraise
• Other newsy highlights such as a Saudi Arabian startup’s seed round and the new CEO of Kakao Corp

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Mintable drama

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Who said business journalism is boring? In this story, we tell a tale of a company’s top directors and founders positively going at it, even taking their issues to the Singapore courts. What, pray tell, led to this kerfuffle? Read on to find out.

• Big billionaire backer: Founded in 2018 as an NFT marketplace, Mintable counts Mark Cuban among its most prominent investors. Cuban led the firm’s series A round in 2021, which netted over US$14 million.
• Stirring the pot: Trouble started brewing in January 2022, as the firm’s financials were going downhill. CEO Zach Burks wanted Mintable to get into crypto trading, but COO Jiawen Ngeow told a shareholder that none of the investors agreed to let Mintable use its funds for crypto trading.
• All downhill: Things only devolved from there. A potential fundraising deal with private equity fund Nepstone Holdings fell through amid moves and counter-moves by Burks and Mintable’s board members. Burks was accused of using Mintable’s money to fund a cannabidiol website and put on administrative leave after a tussle over his employment contract demands, among other issues. And as if all that weren’t enough, legal actions started flying left and right.

Read more: Chaos at Mark Cuban-backed NFT startup after founders, directors lock legal horns

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