The startup plans to license its Mythical Marketplace and Mythical Economic Engine for other developers.
Venture Capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is the lead participant in a recently concluded funding round for the NFT game platform Mythical Games. According to the Thursday announcement, Mythical Games generated $150 million in the Series C round, pushing the company to a $1.25 billion valuation. With the fresh funds, Mythical Games has raised more than $225 million in 2021. In total, the NFT game platform has pulled in a total of $270 million. Mythical Games recorded the $150 million after it earlier raised $75 million in a Series B funding round in June.
After the Series B round, Mythical said it would use the capital to launch an NFT platform to external game developers. The company emphasized that the future of the gaming industry is NFTs. CEO John Linden also said that Mythical NFTs and blockchains have rinse to “a prominent talking point in 2021.”
A16z, Others, Contribute to $150M Round for Mythical Games
In addition to a16z, Binance, D1 Capita, and RedBird Capital also contributed to the round. Other participants include FTX and The Raine Group. One of the returning investors is venture capital firm Galaxy Interactive.
In a press release, the co-founder and CEO of Mythical Games, John Linden, said:
“Players spend billions of dollars on digital assets each year, but the value of their collection has been locked away from them. Utilizing NFTs in gaming creates a whole new set of game design principalities built around scarcity vs. inflationary free-to-play economics.”
Entertainment brands like The Chainsmokers and personalities like OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder also joined in the round.
A16z general partner Arianna Simpson also commented in the press release:
“Mythical Games played a formative role in the development of play-to-earn concepts, and has clearly established itself as a top player among gaming technology studios, attracting mainstream players with its distinctive design and quality gameplay.”
Mythical Games commenced early access for its Blankos Block Party earlier in the year. The game is an open-world multiplayer game that is based on custom and design. Blankos also focuses on building and exploration, and curating collections of Blankos, which are NFTs. Players can make real money by selling these NFTs to each other on the Mythical Marketplace.
Mythical Announces First Developers Partners
In addition, the startup plans to license its Mythical Marketplace and Mythical Economic Engine for other developers. Mythical Games has announced its first developer’s partners for its technology earlier in the week. Under the deal, Mythical Games will develop three new play-to-earn projects to its platform: an action strategy game from Abstraction Games, a racing game from Creative Mobile, and a TCG game by CCG Lab.
A16z is known for investing in both early-stage startups and established growth companies. Fundraising events are now a common occurrence as VCs back innovative projects. Back in April, the VC also led a $28 million funding for private blockchain outfit Aleo. At the time, Katie Huan of a16z noted that the company was satisfied with the support for Aleo.
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