Canada-based blockchain technology provider Dapper Labs has secured $15m in a round that included Samsung Next and GV, respective subsidiaries of electronics manufacturer Samsung and internet and technology group Alphabet.
Venture capital firm Venrock led the round, which included game developer Animoca Brands, talent agency Endeavor, eSports brand aXiomatic, CoinFund, HOF Capital, June Fund, GBIC and private investors including John Pfeffer, Matt Bellamy and William Mougayar.
Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, SV Angel, Digital Currency Group, Hex Capital and Rising Tide Fund also took part in the round, as undisclosed investors.
The company received $12.3m in March 2018 according to a securities filing, and said it has now raised $27.9m altogether. It identified media holding company WndrCo, Green Bay Ventures and angel investor Steve Huffman as participants in its last round.
Spun out of innovation studio Axiom Zen in February 2018, Dapper Labs is the creator of CryptoKitties, a game in which users create, or breed, digital cats that each represent a digital non-fungible token that can be traded using the blockchain.
The latest funding will be used to form a US subsidiary and expand the company’s team with executives from EA Sports, Amazon, ESPN, Unity, Disney, Ubisoft, Hasbro and Zynga.
Dieter Shirley, Dapper Labs’ chief technology officer, said: “We launched CryptoKitties to show the benefits that blockchain technology can bring to consumers. By starting with a fun and approachable experience, we appealed to a very broad audience.”
Image courtesy of Dapper Labs.