Brand Partner Content
How two L.A. market disruptors are launching an NFT to raise millions for the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation in honor of Kobe Bryant.
Within just 48 hours of announcing an NFT art collection in Kobe Bryant’s honor, the KB24.com website received over 7,000 reservation requests. The website, once Kobe Bryant’s official personal website, is now allowing fans of the late Lakers legend to memorialize him while also donating to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation in honor of him and his late daughter Gianna.
Those readers who are familiar with Kobe Bryant’s long and impressive Los Angeles Lakers career will unquestionably have noticed that the KB24 project is being hosted on the very same domain that Bryant himself had, in the past, used to communicate with his fan base.
The basketball icon first launched KB24.com as his personal website in 2006. Through the domain, Bryant would share updates, personal thoughts and commentary, and offer exclusive merchandise not available anywhere else. A forum on the website united fans, while KB24.com additionally served as the official platform on which eager young athletes could sign up to attend Bryant’s official camp, the Kobe Basketball Academy.
By the time Bryant lost his life in a helicopter crash in 2020, alongside his 13-year old daughter Gianna, the domain was no longer in the star’s control. KB24 had been transferred to new owners, who relied on the domain’s fame and strong SEO power to lure visitors to malicious websites with the help of redirect scripts.
The team behind KB24, lifelong Kobe fans and digital entrepreneurs Andy Treys and Sako Waves, were able to acquire the domain only months ago in a secondary domain market. While the duo, who initially kept their names private, widely shared that they purchased KB24.com for a steep price “without hesitation” in the hopes of “restoring the integrity of Kobe’s official website”, their official Discord server also makes it clear that the NFT project was not pre-planned.
“We grew up on the site,” Andy explained, adding that “we wanted to keep it forever, just like a signed Kobe jersey or basketball, but in this case there is only one KB24.com.”
As the project evolved into a charitable fundraiser and grew into the platform for one of the most significant NFT drops to date, Sako says he hopes that their project “can serve as an example for what’s possible when traditional non-profit and charitable organization spaces are disrupted, and instead one-time events make a perpetual impact”.
Andy and Sako are market disruptors, who specialize in launching startups across multiple spaces by leveraging influencer and viral marketing. After consulting with multiple mentors and their attorney, the duo dedicated themselves and their social media marketing agency to fully focus on launching The KB24 NFT. Putting all projects and responsibilities on hold, they reached out to their long time business partners Omkar Ganesan, Roman Royale, Vatche Ourishian, and Erin Zadoorian to form a superteam of resources and marketing power.
The team temporarily housed themselves together in an incubator in San Diego resembling HBO’s Silicon Valley, and began their efforts to bring the KB24 NFT project to life. The group started their marketing efforts immediately and reached out to multiple high profile relationships, ranging from celebrities to high level executives at Fortune 500 companies seeking and securing marketing and consulting efforts. With the project growing every night, The KB24 team expanded its capabilities by adding Tory Waligroski and Elijah Steen to lead the development and design team of the KB24 NFT.
“We have so many people on board helping us bring the KB24 NFT project to fruition, and everyone is happy donating their time and resources without asking for anything in return,” says Andy, “It really shows how much impact Kobe Bryant had on everyone’s lives. We’re excited to share more information on everyone else helping with the project as we get closer to launching”
The newly formed KB24 Team worked throughout the night to restore its integrity and with the sole purpose of benefiting the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation in perpetuity. The KB24 team will donate 100% of proceeds raised through the one-of-a-kind, limited edition NFT drops. In addition, all residual fees on The KB24 NFT will be donated, such that if a fan ever sells their art, all of the residual fees of the sale price will automatically be donated to the foundation as well — something not possible with traditional charitable sales.
“The digital NFT art market has exploded in the last year as crypto investors look to enter the space,” Sako said. “The possibilities are endless and we want to utilize that momentum to help fund non profit organizations working with communities to foster their love for basketball and sports in general.”
Every aspect of this project serves to highlight Kobe’s great achievements and have fans be a part of it. Each NFT will be 100% unique by combining different attributes that represent Kobe’s achievements, moments in his career, or personality.
The artful web design, designed by their social media marketing agency’s very own lead designer, Marina Petre, embodies a modern style emblazoned with Black Mamba images, and features a mysterious countdown that lets fans know when they can expect the next announcement. Those who are interested in the project will be eager to find out that NFT giveaways will be among the announcements.
Last week, as thousands of fans requested reservations, presale codes were sent out to those who signed up on KB24.com before Sept. 13, 2021.
“The amount of fans rushing to sign up has been overwhelming and exciting at the same time” says KB24’s Community Manager, Elden Mirz “We want to thank all the fans who took on new roles and assisted us with the KB24 NFT”
Currently, the site is offering fans more opportunities to get in the presale via contests announced daily on their Discord. The KB24 NFT is on track to instantly sell out of the KB24 NFT within seconds of launching, raising nearly $3 million for the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation. The KB24 team believes the secondary market sales for the KB24 NFT are going to boom and raise record breaking numbers for the foundation, reaching an estimated $50 million in residual revenue over a short amount of time. The KB24 NFT announced they will be releasing a sneak peak of the KB24 NFT on Friday.
The KB24 Team’s goal for this release is solely for charitable purposes, as 100% of all proceeds and revenue from the sale of The KB24 NFT will be donated to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation. Being at the forefront of this allows the KB24 NFT to experiment and create a project that will live on forever, and positively impact kids and families through the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation. The KB24 NFT can serve as an example for what’s possible when traditional non-profit and charitable organization spaces are disrupted, and instead one-time events make a perpetual impact.
Every aspect of this project serves to highlight Kobe’s great achievements and have fans be a part of it. Each NFT will be 100% unique by combining different attributes that represent Kobe’s achievements, moments in his career, or personality.
The KB24 NFT team sees this project living forever and being interchanged between Kobe fans finding their favorite moment with the Lakes legend, and with being able to access the Kobe wall that will be hosted publicly, allowing NFT holders to upload their favorite photo or tribute to Kobe and have it be viewed forever by fans visiting his website.
What is the KB24 NFT?
So what is the KB24 NFT, you ask? KB24 NFTs are 10,000 algorithmically generated unique and collectibles stored on the Ethereum blockchain. All KB24 NFT’s will be algorithmically generated using base layers created by the The KB24 Team. According to the team’s discord, there are over 100 attributes across 8 categories: These categories include Jerseys, Accomplishments, Accessories, and a few surprises. With these attributes, it gives millions of unique KB24 NFT combinations. With only 10,000 being minted, however, some are more unique and rare than others.
How Will the Profits Be Used?
All proceeds from the collection will be donated to Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation — the nonprofit founded in memory of Kobe and Gianna Bryant. 10% royalties will be applied to all resales and donated to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation in perpetuity.
Does the KB24 NFT Have an Official Partnership With the Foundation?
The foundation has been notified in advance through multiple contacts, and the KB24 Team is in the process of setting up a permanent ETH address that the foundation will exclusively have access to.
To this day, not a single Kobe Bryant related NFT project has received a partnership from the Mamba & Mambacita Foundation. However, the KB24 NFT seems like they may be on their way to making the impossible happen.
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.