RTFKT
Nike bought it seven months after its seed round and closed it three years on
A studio that sold virtual sneakers, avatars and other digital collectibles as NFTs, often designed with outside artists and brands, and sometimes paired with physical products.
- Capital raised (announced)
Recorded announced backing; this is separate from cash received, customer deposits and money recovered.
Funding
| Round | Date | Announced | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed round | 2021 |
Announced is what was said at the time. Cash actually received is rarely disclosed and is not assumed to match.
People
| Name | Role | Period | Now | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benoit Pagotto | — | Not established | Oct 2026 | |
| Chris Le | — | Content Creator, Senior Copywriter, Wieden + Kennedy | Oct 2026 | |
| Steven Vasilev | — | Not established | Oct 2026 |
Timeline
January 2020
Started by Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le and Steven Vasilev.
4 May 2021
WWD reported two full-time staff. The company planned hiring and a marketplace of its own.
13 December 2021
Terms were not disclosed. Nike said it planned to invest in the brand.
2 December 2024
How it ended
RTFKT announced on X that it would wind down operations, with its web3 services ending by the end of January 2025 after one final collection. It said its website would be turned into an archive of past work. The announcement gave no reason.
What happened next
- Lawsuit25 April 2025
Cheema v. Nike, Inc. was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. It was later consolidated with a second case and renamed Fernandez et al. v. Nike, Inc.
- Asset sale16 December 2025
Reported date of the sale; Nike disclosed neither the buyer nor the terms.
- Court ruling21 January 2026
Judge Pamela K. Chen granted Nike's motion to compel arbitration and stayed the case pending arbitration; Nike's motion to dismiss was denied as moot, with leave to refile if the stay is lifted.
Still alive
Open spot
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Spotlight your project here.
Sources
11 sources behind this page.
- 1Nike's NFT arm RTFKT to shut down after launching final collection · crypto.news
- 2Nike gets "metaverse-ready" with acquisition of virtual sneaker company RTFKT · Dezeen · Dec 2021
- 3RTFKT Just Secured $8M in Funding to Build the "Digital Supreme" · Highsnobiety
- 4LinkedIn profile: Chris Le - Content Creator, Senior Copywriter - Wieden + Kennedy | LinkedIn · LinkedIn, as shown in Brave Search API results (self-published profile) · user-editable
- 5RTFKT is Shutting Down Three Years After Acquisition by Nike · NFTgators
- 6Nike Acquires RTFKT · NIKE, Inc. · Dec 2021
- 7Fernandez, et al. v. Nike, Inc. (formerly Cheema v. Nike, Inc.), 1:25-cv-02305, E.D.N.Y. — docket · PacerMonitor (reproducing the US District Court docket)
- 8Nike's Web3 Project RTFKT is Winding Down Operations by End of January 2025 · Sole Retriever
- 9Nike Sold RTFKT to Undisclosed Buyer in December: Report · Unchained · Jan 2026
- 10NFT Brand RTFKT Raises $8M, Plans to Build Digital Marketplace · WWD (via Yahoo Finance) · May 2021
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- 11Virtual Fashion Platform Secures $8M From Andreessen Horowitz and Others · Yahoo Finance · May 2021
Every figure above is clickable and opens the sources behind it. Copies were stored when each source was read, so a citation still resolves after the page it came from is gone.