US-headquartered blockchain-based gaming developer Worldspark Studios received $3m in a seed round co-led by gaming and blockchain technology developer Animoca Brands.
Shima Capital also co-led the round, which saw participation from quantitative trading firm Alameda Research’s corporate venturing unit Alameda Ventures, trading firm Jump Trading subsidiary Jump Capital, cryptocurrency mining service ViaBTC, blockchain technology company Onchain Group and YGGSEA, a subsidiary of gaming guild Yield Guild Games.
The company said over 60 investors showed interest in the round, which was filled out by AAG Ventures, Sfermion, Moon Holdings, Infinity Crypto Ventures, Forward Analytics, Pillar VC, SL2 Capital, Lucid Blue Ventures, LD Capital and Double Peak Group.
Worldspark was founded last year, after its main game, Edenbrawl, had been in production for about five years by a scattered team of freelancers. Edenbrawl is a combat-based game that forms part of its larger Eden metaverse ecosystem.
Gaming finance (GameFi) has become one of the most popular subsectors of the blockchain space, tapping into the already growing gaming market – which has seen a sizeable boost over the pandemic – and allowing players the opportunity to earn real money for the time they already invest in games.
Worldspark said that Edenbrawl is not a pay-to-win game like other blockchain-based counterparts that may require players to buy NFT characters to take part. Instead, Edenbrawl only has purchases for cosmetic NFTs, which can then be freely traded and resold.
Worldspark’s co-founder and chief executive Chandler Tomlinson said: “Prior to this seed round, Edenbrawl had been 100% self-funded with zero full-time employees.
“While we are incredibly proud of what we have put together under those circumstances, the funding will take our progress to the next level as we are finally enabled to hire AAA gaming experts with experience in building IP and shipping competitive titles.”
Animoca Brands, which in January raised $359m of its own from investors including cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and internet group Smile Group, launched a $200m fund with cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s Smart Chain subsidiary to invest in projects and companies working on GameFi.
Like Animoca and Binance’s vehicle, Infinity Crypto Ventures, which took part in Worldspark’s seed round, is fresh off the closing of its $70m inaugural fund in February after receiving commitments from investors including Animoca Brands and payments services provider Circle.
Whydah, a Vietnam-based blockchain game studio, raised $25m in a December 2021 round from investors including gaming guild Good Guild Games, decentralised technology provider Mask Network and blockchain technology developer KardiaChain, the latter through its strategic investment arm Kardia Ventures.
Emerging markets are also getting in on the action, with Congo-based play-to-earn gaming platform Jambo securing $7.5m in seed funding in February backed by Alameda Research as well as crypto scaling technology developer Polygon, crypto research firm Delphi Digital and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s respective subsidiaries Polygon Studios, Delphi Ventures and Coinbase Ventures.
A month earlier, Polygon invested an undisclosed amount in metaverse play-to-earn game Rush, which was developed by India-based messaging app developer Hike.
