Rapper Nas Among Coinbase Shareholders

In 2013 Coinbase closed a $25 million Series B funding round. Among the participants was QueensBridge Venture Partners, co-founded by American rapper Nas.

According to sources at CoinDesk, the firm did not sell its stake, and is thus one of the beneficiaries of the upcoming direct listing on Nasdaq.

At the time of the round’s closure, Coinbase was valued at $143 million. QueensBridge Venture Partners typically invests from $100,000 to $500,000. Given the then-share price of $1,006.76, the value of its stake, based on the first-quarter weighted average price on private markets, would be between $34 million and $173 million.

According to sources, Nas is friends with Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The latter is one of Coinbase’s largest shareholders with 14.1% of the voting rights. Perhaps Horowitz advised his friend to invest in the exchange.

The rapper’s partner at QueensBridge, Anthony Saleh, advised on Twitter to buy Coinbase shares at any price after the direct listing.

When @coinbase goes public April 14th… buy it at any price you can and hold on for the ride if a lifetime…

— A Saleh (@Dude_Br0) April 6, 2021

Among other notable beneficiaries — Union Square Ventures (8.1% of voting rights) and Ribbit Capital (7%). Among private shareholders are co-founders Brian Armstrong (21.6%), Fred Ehrsam (8.9%), and Chief Commercial Officer Surajit Chatterjee (less than 1%).

At one time, Coinbase was invested by the Duke University endowment, former Reuters CEO Tom Glocer, and former Citigroup chief Vikram Pandit.

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