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Flow
A Layer 1 blockchain
Peak Money
Yield application based on Flow
NFL All Day
Officially licensed NFL highlight NFT collect and trade platform
UFC Strike
Official UFC NFT collectibles platform
Brud
Community-driven virtual influencer media company
CryptoKitties
Ethereum-based blockchain digital cat collecting and breeding game
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About Dapper Labs
Dapper Labs is a consumer-focused blockchain company best known as the creator of the Flow blockchain and NBA Top Shot, an officially licensed NFT platform for NBA highlight moments. Its core business spans digital collectibles (NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, Disney Pinnacle) and the underlying Flow network, which uses the Cadence programming language and a multi-node architecture to achieve low transaction costs and high throughput.
The company's main competitive edge lies in deep IP partnerships with major sports and entertainment brands (NBA, NFL, Disney), combined with Flow's technical design that prioritizes mainstream user experience. It addresses the market pain points of digital ownership—traditional digital goods lack true scarcity and transferability, while early blockchains suffered from high fees and poor scalability.
Over the past six months (March to September 2026), Dapper Labs faced significant challenges. In December 2025, a vulnerability in Flow's execution layer led to a $3.9 million theft, and the subsequent proposal to roll back the chain was abandoned due to partner opposition. In March 2026, major South Korean exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone) delisted FLOW following the incident, and in May 2026, NFL All Day paused new NFT drops. FLOW reached an all-time low of $0.0246 in June 2026. On the positive side, Dune Analytics integration in June 2026 improved on-chain data transparency, and the Flow Foundation burned 50.3 million FLOW tokens in February 2026 with a commitment to buy back an additional 50 million. The network also saw continued development of Flow EVM and early adoption of x402, an AI-agent payment protocol.
Founded in 2018 by Roham Gharegozlou and Dieter Shirley, Dapper Labs emerged from Axiom Zen after CryptoKitties (2017) became the first mainstream NFT application, clogging Ethereum and proving consumer demand for digital ownership.
In 2020, Dapper Labs launched NBA Top Shot, a licensed NFT platform for basketball highlights, which became the industry's breakout success with over $1.2B in lifetime sales and 1.6M+ collectors. This validated the licensed-IP NFT model and brought blockchain to mainstream sports fans.
To solve Ethereum's scalability issues, Dapper Labs created Flow, a consumer-focused blockchain with a multi-node architecture and the Cadence resource-oriented programming language. Flow has processed 975M+ transactions with 42M+ accounts, hosting brands like NBA, Disney, and PayPal.
In September 2021, Dapper Labs raised $250M led by Coatue with a16z, GV, and GIC, following a year of 30x growth for NBA Top Shot, cementing its position as the leading consumer blockchain company.
In 2023-2024, the Canada Revenue Agency obtained information on 2,500 Dapper Labs users in a cryptocurrency tax investigation, marking the second such court order against a Canadian crypto company and highlighting growing regulatory scrutiny of the NFT space.
Co-founders:
Roham Gharegozlou: Founder & CEO. Born in Iran, BA in Economics from Stanford. Founded Axiom Zen in 2013, launched CryptoKitties in 2017, and spun out Dapper Labs in 2018. Former angel investor.
Dieter Shirley: Co-founder. Former Development Director at Atimi Software and Senior Software Engineer at Apple. Co-founded Dapper Labs with Roham, leading blockchain architecture.
Current core executives:
Ridhima Kahn: VP of Business Development. Former Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Investor at Hewlett Foundation and GCM Grosvenor, and Hedge Fund Credit at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Gabriella Gibson: COO. Former VP of Operations for Web3 Platforms at Consensys, Director of Strategy & Partnerships at Coinbase, Senior Manager of Business Operations at Revolut, and Business Development Analyst at Accenture.