Coinbase: Nas, Durant, Andreessen Horowitz and the other winners after premium debut

New York rapper Nas is among a number of individuals counting fresh fortunes following the rampant rise of Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) shares amidst this week’s Nasdaq debut.

As an early investor in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange buying a stake initially in 2013 via a ‘series B’ funding round priced at just over a dollar per share.

QueensBridge Venture Partners, the investment vehicle named after the New York public housing development he grew up in, the musician is said to have invested between US$100,000 and US$500,000 at that time.

Estimates of the rapper’s investment gains on the stock, cited in media reports, run up to US$100mln.

In Friday’s deals, Coinbase stock was again on the front foot rising US$10 or 3% to change hands at around US$333. It marks a substantial premium to the US$250 per share reference price on the eve on Wednesday’s debut.

The media has highlighted a number of other big winners among Coinbase’s pre-float investors.

Kevin Durant, the NBA’s third top-paid player, bought in via a 2017 funding round with his investment company Thirty Five Ventures.

Venture capitalists such as Union Square and Andreessen Horowitz also built stakes, now valued in the ballpark of US$4.6bn and US$9.7bn respectively.

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is another noted investor, meanwhile, company insiders also stand to hit big after going public.

Coinbase co-founders Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam are reportedly now worth US$13bn and US$6.7bn respectively thanks to their holdings in the company.

Then there’s former Google executive Surojit Chatterjee who joined as Coinbase chief product officer only 15 months ago is the owner of stock now worth US$180.8mln (and has options now valued at around US$465.5mln).

Post float, Cathie Wood’s ARK has been buying shares in the market, reportedly as many as 750,000 shares in the past couple of days.

Back to Nas, Coinbase is not the only success enjoyed by the rapper.

QueensBridge is said to have invested into more than 100 companies and its notable winners include a US$25mln gain of a stake in Ring when the smart-doorbell firm was bought by Amazon for US$1.1bn in 2018.

It has also invested in Dropbox, Lyft, FanDuel and mattress firm Casper.

Story by ProactiveInvestors