Building strategic partnerships is one of the greatest ways to grow and scale a brand. Just ask NBA player Kevin Durant, founder of Thirty Five Ventures. Durant’s company recently agreed on entering a multiyear partnership focused on marketing with Coinbase, a major cryptocurrency exchange platform.
“Kevin does very, very few brand deals and that was by design,” Rich Kleiman, co-founder of Thirty Five Ventures, told Bloomberg. “They’re this new model of brand partner for us, where they do integrate in all different parts of our business.”
The Coinbase and Thirty Five Ventures’ deal places Durant, a proponent of cryptocurrency, as the face of the brand’s platform. Through their partnership, Thirty Five Ventures and Coinbase will educate site visitors on the power of NFTs in the digital crypto world. The growing popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has prompted Coinbase to try to increase awareness of the digital assets on its platform.
“Kevin is a perfect partner for Coinbase because he is genuinely experienced and excited about crypto,” said Kate Rouch, Coinbase’s chief marketing officer in a press release. “He is a builder and embodies an entrepreneurial spirit that we look for in our partners. His authenticity will be critically important to helping us reach millions of fans around the world.”
Durant will be promoting Coinbase through all of his business endeavors including Boardroom, a digital sports platform. On the platform, Coinbase will post sponsored cryptocurrency content and digital advertisements.
Thirty-Five Ventures and Coinbase have a long-standing relationship. When Coinbase launched in 2017, Thirty-Five Ventures participated in the company’s Series D funding. Coinbase raised $100 million based on a $1.6 billion valuation. Since then, Durant has consistently promoted Coinbase as the company grew.
“To think that four years later they have invested in our platform, invested in Kevin, invested in our foundation, I think it’s what all good partnerships in the future look like for us,” Kleiman said in the statement.
Today, the Coinbase platform allows customers to learn and purchase cryptocurrency. There are 73 million verified users across 100 countries using Coinbase to invest, spend and use cryptocurrency.
“Being an early investor in a company you’re excited about is always an amazing feeling,” Durant said in a press release. “Being able to come back a few years later and create an even more in-depth partnership is rare, and we’re fortunate to be building further with Coinbase.”
Coinbase will also be serving as a supporter of the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation, an organization dedicated to youth development.
