Top Tier Authentics has unveiled its digital collectibles authenticity platform as well as a new advisory board.
The New York company aims to transform how brands, athletes and artists authenticate products and create new consumer experiences.
The advisory board comprises world-class athletes and visionary business executives behind leading companies, major deals and breakthrough innovations in sports, gaming, entertainment and emerging tech.
TTA developed its Experiential Authenticity Platform, enabling instant verification of products, artworks, and collectibles, along with immersive digital experiences, exclusive benefits, and interactive features.
Since its inception in May 2023, TTA has already collaborated with top artists, brands and athletes, including the 2023 NCAA national championship University of Michigan Wolverines team, University of Georgia Bulldogs, University of Tennessee Volunteers, undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and viral golf artist Coach Rusty.
Advisory board members
The board will help TTA further expand its platform into new markets, with members including:
Grayson Allen is an investor in TTA and an NBA star currently playing as the starting shooting guard for the Phoenix Suns. He ranks as one of the best players for Duke University’s Blue Devils and was key to the team’s 2015 championship win.
Patrick Dwyer, with over 30 years’ experience, has been honored as a top financial advisor by Forbes, Barron’s and the Financial Times. He’s served as the managing director for the Silicon Valley Bank and is managing director of NewEdge Wealth.
Timothy Enneking has spent 30 years in finance and operations management, with extensive startup and M&A experience, completing over 70 transactions totaling $20 billion. He is managing partner at Psalion; CIO, Mana Companies Asset Management; CEO, Presearch.com Inc.; and managing director, Digital Capital Management.
Darren Glover is a marketing and brand-building innovator working with professional athletes, Fortune 500 consumer brands, live streaming platforms, gaming publishers, and gaming content creators. He is vice president of gaming at VaynerSports, where his clients include pro-gamers Bugha, Clix and Brycent.
Chris Ko brings decades of experience in the interactive entertainment sector, including serving as the VP and general manager of EA Sports Mobile and EA Racing Mobile. He also successfully ran the development and growth of several free-to-play gaming companies.
Mark Lieberman, an experienced media and tech operations expert, has acted as assistant secretary of technology at the U.S. Commerce Department under George H.W. Bush, and led companies like Viamedia, Placemedia, Rightster and TRA. He holds leadership and advisory roles at Recurrent Ventures and Blackstone.
Greg Selkoe is an American Entrepreneur who founded the e-commerce and retail company Karmaloop and served as president of FaZe Clan. He is an alum of Y Combinator and serves as CEO of XSET Gaming.
Shmuel Farhi founded of Farhi Holdings Corp., one of Ontario, Canada’s most influential real estate development firms. His innovative approach has transformed millions of square feet into thriving commercial, residential, and hospitality spaces.
Origins
The company was started a year ago by Dima Azarenko and Andrew Rosen. Both veteran entrepreneurs, they saw deficiencies in Web3 products, seeing companies “without business models,” Azarenko said in an interview with GamesBeat.
“We started to explore how to utilize the underlying technology without shoving it down people’s throats and use the blockchain for what it was meant for,” he said.
They knew that sports memorabilia came with a document dubbed “certificate of authenticity.” But it read like it was “terms and conditions” in legalese and by itself it wasn’t at all engaging for fans.
Rosen agreed that many vendors of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) sold them despite having no utility for them.
“The question was how to go mass market but not change consumer behavior,” Rosen said. “How do we reduce friction and inefficiency and not change consumer behavior. We do that successfully at Top Tier Authentics.
Rosen and Azarenko bootstrapped the firm with $300,000 of their own funds first. The company has 22 people now, and it has raised a few small rounds of funding. They raised one round of $500,000 at a $10 million valuation. Then raised $525,000 at a $20 million valuation, and then $575,000 at a $22 million valuation. Those amounts of money raised are very different from other Web3 entrepreneurs.
Getting started
They teamed up with collectors and athletic programs. They opened a memorabilia store on Amazon where you could see a painting come to life.
“We incentivize people directly on the platform. You can do a meet and greet” on a sports celebrity tour, Rosen said.
Each item or physical space comes with a near-field communication (NFC) chip or QR code. These are nearly impossible to copy. They can use them to authenticate things you wouldn’t expect, like verifying the THC% in a batch of cannabis. You can click on it and see the plant being cared for.
“We want to make sure brands increase their value using our certificates of authenticity. As a consumer, you get access to a COA but also benefits associated with that brand. It can be a discount. Access to speak with founders and more,” Rosen said.
You scan a code and see the provenance of a product visually. It’s working with the Georgia Bulldogs sports team, showing a piece of grass and where it came from.
There’s a blockchain element but Azarenko said that the firm obscures it from users so they don’t have to face the friction of understanding the tech. When they scan an item, they sign in with their email accounts. TTA creates a custodial wallet and transacts on the Avalanche blockchain. Customers don’t need to know any of these details to do transactions.
Every COA acts as a kind of digital twin, and this makes the blockchain more relevant. The COA comes with a physical product. A digital certificate of authenticity can be transferred to a party and then it can be verified and released without a waiting period or middleman verification, Azarenko said. Any product can be resold on any platform. TTA holds assets in custody since there is a physical element.
Azarenko and Rosen said that the advisers like Chris Ko and Darren Glover can be helpful in gaming because of their insights around events like esports and sports fandom and how it stretches across gaming. Azarenko said the gamification comes in where a fan purchases a collectible and the COA that comes with it can unlock rewards either at the esports events or in the games. When such collectibles are tied to real things, rather than an artificial digital scarcity, fans can see the value of them as collectibles.
While there are plenty of examples of esports teams failing to sell NFTs to fans, TTA is trying to focus on the intersection of digital and physical goods so there is tangible value.
“It’s really taking all the concepts and taking the digital and physical world, and really having them marry each other in a way that’s super just accepted by or are easily digestible by a community,” Rosen said.
Adviser quotes
In an interview with GamesBeat, Darren Glover said, “Fans love to collect moments and experiences. The gaming industry, while a multibillion-dollar industry, has a zero dollar market cap when it comes to collectibles. Maybe 40,000 people attend an esports event. If you search for a collectible item on that gamer they go to watch, there is nothing there. Gaming and esports need a digital first experience. The in-person component of creating collectible items for the gaming and esports industries — there is no one doing it. TTA is an innovator and is the perfect business to capitalize on it.”
Chris Ko is a gaming expert who spent many years at Electronic Arts. He said in an interview with GamesBeat, “When people play a game, the reality is they don’t want to play physically. They need to experience the fandom. And so that was the lightbulb. I realized, holy cow, what TTA is doing. They actually can be the hub. So all the things that Dima touched on, all of these that Andrew touched on, they’re building out operational areas with the community, the platform hub, and all these interactions. I’m helping them bridge the worlds with the gaming space.”
Grayson Allen: “Top Tier Authentics offers athletes a powerful way to connect with fans while unlocking a new and better way to monetize their name, image and likeness – whether that’s selling gear, memorabilia or merchandise. It’s the perfect platform to build a personal brand. Every athlete – collegiate, professional or beyond – should be working with TTA.”
Patrick Dwyer: “TTA is redefining consumer engagement and trust. It’s the future of authenticity and interactive engagement – bridging the physical world with one-of-a-kind digital experiences. Importantly, it unlocks powerful new consumers insights that can’t be found anywhere else.”
Timothy Enneking: “I have always been a staunch advocate for the transformative power of promising new technology. Top Tier Authentics has delivered exactly that – re-imagining what it means to use and engage with the products you buy or the items you collect and share. It’s an experience everyone will enjoy.”
Mark Lieberman: “This industry is ripe for disruption, and TTA has proven that consumers want more from their purchases – whether that’s sports memorabilia, art, or name-brand products. Their turn-key platform, and the experience it provides, creates new and incremental value for all stakeholders.”
Greg Selkoe: “Top Tier Authentics’ solution isn’t just about verifying what’s real; it establishes deeper connections and trust between brands and consumers. It’s what every product and retailer needs in today’s rapidly evolving digital age.”
Shmuel Farhi: “To succeed as an entrepreneur and real estate developer, I’ve often focused on reinventing spaces for enhanced community engagement, efficiency, and local economic impact. Similarly, Top Tier Authentics innovates the consumer experience, forging new paths for connection, interaction, and business opportunities.”
Authenticity platform
Top Tier Authentics (TTA) has developed its Experiential Authenticity Platform, enabling instant verification of any product, artwork or collectible while powering new and immersive digital experiences, unique benefits, and interactive features.
The simple, turn-key solution can increase the value and enhance the experience of any item – or event – while empowering brands and individuals to connect with consumers, collectors and fans on a deeper level. TTA’s end-to-end platform also enables behavioral analytics from every touchpoint to identify key trends and opportunities.
Consumers enjoy an entirely new way to interact with their favorite brands, athletes and artists. This includes behind-the-scenes videos captured in the moment – such as when the signing occurred, the creation of the art, or the story behind the brand, artist or athlete – as well as personalized content, redeemable offers, and exclusive access to community events and activations. TTA gives each product and experience a one-of-a-kind and engaging life of its own, to share with friends and other collectors who hold similar treasures.
To shop the memorabilia collections, visit the TTA Amazon brand store.