From 2005 to 2020, Robert Iger, better known as Bob Iger, worked as the CEO of Walt Disney, pushing boundaries with Disney+ and accelerating the brand, including billion-dollar acquisitions like 21st Century Fox and Lucasfilm. Following his exit, Iger stayed on as an executive chairman and board chair at Disney until December of last year, when 14-year member Susan Arnold succeeded him.
Iger has taken a board seat on a little Los Angeles number called Genies Inc. The technology startup, founded by Akash Nigam back in 2017, focuses on the burgeoning Web3, or Web 3.0 concept, which itself mainly hinders the innovation behind the metaverse, blockchain, and NFTs.
Thrilled to be joining the @genies Board of Directors to help @akashrnigam and company empower humans to create the “mobile apps of web3”: avatar ecosystems.
— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) March 14, 2022
Genies had already raised a whopping $100 million in funding from New Enterprise Associates, Breyer Capital, and Bond Capital. Iger himself is also a backer. The company totals around 100 employees with significant cash flow positioned on the tools for creating accessories to go along with NFTs. Think jean jackets, sunglasses, purses, even full-on virtual characters modeled and designed under Genie's technology.
The 71-year old Iger tells the Wall Street Journal, "Imagine, you know, letting someone buy a Mickey Mouse avatar and customizing it in a way that not only would we never allow it before, but it was kind of hard to do in the physical world."
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Despite the underlying pushback from most of the internet, the NFT boom saw immense monetary gain and technological insight into how the metaverse can be situated and experienced. Iger, an avid proponent of the NFT and Web3 concepts, sees Genies as a shop dedicated to the future. What made Genies such an ideal candidate for Iger is its ability to utilize already existing IP to broaden the scope of creation via its various NFT-based toolsets.
Beyond providing a slew of tools for NFT creation, Genies acts as an NFT marketplace, as well, allowing its various creators to sell their work at a 5% fee for both primary and secondary sales. The tech startup has several music-based partnerships that allow it a ton of versatility for its ecosystem, including the likes of Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group, allowing it such namesakes as Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber for likenesses in NFT creation.
While Genies might see itself on the right track, especially with the likes of Iger in the boardroom, metaverse and NFT adoration have slowly diminished into 2022. Still, while the fervor on the outside may be dwindling, those already invested see the potential not just in Genies but the market as a whole. The metaverse alone is poised to be an $800 billion market, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, and NFTs aren't far behind.
For Iger, it's all about "being entrepreneurial" at his age. He likens his board seat acceptance to "a leap of faith" when a film director approaches "with a great idea." At only 29 years of age, Genies' own entrepreneurial founder sees his idea as the next step in entertainment, and Iger seems to agree.
