Led · Series A · Mar 2024

Carbonated is the studio behind MadWorld, a post-apocalyptic third-person shooter for iOS and Android that integrates NFT-based territory control. MadWorld pairs competitive shooting action with territory control built on tokenized land assets mapped to a hex grid of over 250,000 plots, each with distinct resources and perks. Players can own, upgrade, and trade tokenized versions of real-world locations, and clans can battle over plots while paying "tribute" in an in-game currency called Rounds. Rounds are intended to be convertible to a future on-chain token pending early access feedback, fueling a tokenized in-game economy on the XPLA blockchain. Carbonated opened early access registration and plans a public launch of MadWorld sometime in 2024. The studio was founded in 2015 by industry veterans from PlayStation and Electronic Arts and is led by CEO Travis Boatman; the company recently raised $11 million in a Series A. Carbonated Games is an El Segundo-based developer of mobile games. It focuses on developing "highly competitive" mobile titles that are more akin to hardcore console and PC games than typical casual mobile offerings. The company was founded in 2015 and is led by founder and CEO Travis Boatman. Carbonated says its founders come from Zynga, Electronic Arts and Blizzard. The company announced it raised $8.5M in a seed funding round. Investors in the round were Andreessen Horowitz, Golden Ventures, and Bitkraft Esports Ventures.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2023

Saga is a Layer-1 protocol and developer ecosystem built around an Integrated Stack that provides automated, high-performance, gasless, interoperable, and customizable chains called Chainlets. The protocol emphasizes developer needs, aiming to remove barriers like high gas fees, congestion, and complexity associated with modular stacks. Saga reported 295 Innovator projects building on its protocol in less than two years and expects over 300 by its Mainnet launch in early 2024. Its Incentivized Testnet Pegasus logged over 150,000 transactions and opened 30,000 wallets within two weeks, among one of the highest participant counts for an ITN. Saga plans to expand its engineering team, grow community and ecosystem activation, and scale its Saga Innovator Program through strategic partnerships with projects such as Polygon, Avalanche, and Celestia. The company also announced token airdrops to Pegasus participants and other community members subject to eligibility terms.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2022

Gameplay Galaxy is launching a decentralized Web3 competitive gaming ecosystem that begins with Trial Xtreme and will add other extreme-sport titles. Developed by the creators of Trial Xtreme, which reached over 250 million downloads, the platform lets players own vehicles, racetracks, characters, workshops and other items as NFTs. Players can buy and sell NFTs on a decentralized marketplace, earn tokens by winning games, and earn active income by competing in or hosting tournaments and events. Earned tokens can be redeemed to open a secure wallet that will store future tokens and NFTs. The seed funding will be used to build new games, integrate Web3 capabilities, design seamless experiences, onboard Web2 players, develop the wallet offering, and expand the development team. Gameplay Galaxy launches with a team of over thirty professionals and is actively hiring.

Led · Seed · Apr 2022

5X5 Gaming focuses on building cross-platform games that incorporate digital collectibles and competitive, social gaming experiences. The company intends to use its recent seed funding to build core games and advance product development. Its first game, Battle of Kingdoms, will let players play, collect and digitally own (via NFTs) historical warriors and soldiers from different cultures, and the company is consulting historians and local experts to ensure proper representation. 5X5 Gaming is headquartered in San Francisco and has employees in Los Angeles, Chicago, Mexico, Vietnam, India and Turkey. The company is led by founder and CEO Deniz Gezgin, who brings experience in game development and digital collectibles, including leading the digital division of Topps. The company raised $1.7M in seed funding to support its roadmap.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2022

BreederDAO builds digital assets at scale for play-to-earn blockchain games and virtual worlds, producing NFTs for titles including Axie Infinity, Crabada, and Pegaxy. The 23-person, Philippines-based team sells NFTs at preset prices to customers such as Yield Guild Games, Ready Player DAO, and Earn Guild; YGG also owns a stake in the company. BreederDAO aims to work with 5,000 play-to-earn groups by 2025 and positions itself as a specialist in the asset-production part of the game supply chain. Demand context cited by investors notes Axie Infinity’s nearly 3 million daily active users and that guilds attracted $532 million in funding last year, indicating room for growth. Financially, BreederDAO closed a $10 million Series A via a token sale co-led by a16z and Delphi Digital, with participation from Hashed, com2us, Morningstar Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Sfermion, The LAO, Emfarsis and others. Investors funded the company ahead of a public token launch; syndicate participants will receive tokens proportional to their investment when the offering occurs.