VC Roundup: Gaming investments surge 94% in Q124 as market rebounds

As a seasoned crypto investor with a keen interest in the gaming industry, I find the recent surge in venture capital funding and deal volume in this sector truly exhilarating. The potential of the gaming market reaching $225 billion by 2029 is an encouraging sign for those of us invested in this space.


As an industry analyst, I’ve observed a notable resurgence of interest from venture capitalists in the gaming sector. This revival is marked by a significant increase in the amount of funding being deployed as well as a rise in the number of deals being made.

As a crypto investor with an interest in the video gaming industry, I’ve come across some exciting news from Konvoy Ventures. In the opening quarter of 2024, they reported a substantial increase in gaming VC funding, amounting to a whopping $594 million. This figure represents a striking 94% jump from the final quarter of 2023. Moreover, deal volume saw a considerable uptick as well, with 124 deals being successfully closed – a 28% rise compared to the previous period.

The gaming industry is anticipated to grow significantly, reaching an estimated size of $225 billion by the year 2029, up from its current value of $189 billion in 2023.

As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed an intriguing trend in the Web3 industry: blockchain games are playing a significant role in its growth. According to DappRadar, these games accounted for an impressive 30% of all Decentralized Application (DApp) activity during the first quarter of 2024. This surge attracted approximately 2.1 million active wallets daily. Among these platforms, Polygon stood out, welcoming over 1.1 million new wallets – a staggering 429% increase compared to the previous quarter.

As a researcher studying the venture capital industry, I’ve observed that firms are preparing themselves for the ongoing bull market by actively raising funds. In the month of April alone, notable firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, and Pantera Capital were among those announced to be in the process of fundraising.

CryptoMoon’s VC Roundup features some of the startups that raised capital in April.

Laser Digital leads $5M investment in gaming firm Tevaera 

Tevaera successfully raised $5 million in a funding round with Nomura’s Laser Digital taking the lead. This financing will be used to advance the creation of a gaming ecosystem based on zkSync’s ZK Stack. A list of investors participating includes Hashkey Capital, Fenbushi Capital, Matter Labs, Draper Dragon, Faculty Group, Crypto.com Capital, Cogitent Ventures, Selini Capital, and DWF Labs, among others. Tevaera has been dedicated to developing the zkSync platform for approximately two years with a game-centric approach to tackling issues within Web3 gaming infrastructure. The company’s community has grown significantly over the past year, reaching over 850,000 Soulbound Gamers from more than 100 countries.

VC Roundup: Gaming investments surge 94% in Q124 as market rebounds

AVALON raises $10M for debut title

Avalon, an independent game studio established in 2021, has raised $10 million in a funding round with BITKRAFT Ventures and Hashed leading the way. Participating investors also include Coinbase Ventures, Spartan Capital, Foresight Ventures, LiquidX, and Momentum6. These funds will be used to develop Avalon’s debut game, sharing the same name, which features a multiplayer mode enabling players to explore multiple worlds while preserving their possessions and advancement. Avalon’s founders are industry veterans from Microsoft, Sony, Capcom, Infinity Ward, and Ubisoft, who previously contributed to acclaimed franchises such as Call of Duty, EverQuest, and Assassin’s Creed. The game is currently being developed for PC and cloud streaming platforms.

Uncharted raises $1.7M in seed round

Uncharted obtained $1.7 million in seed investment from Shima Capital, The Spartan Group, Double Peak Group, Devmons, 32-bit, D64 Ventures, Trinity Labs, LiquidX, and various individual investors, including Robbie and James Ferguson from Immutable, to build the crypto sector’s “gamification layer.” Uncharted aims to establish a GameFi platform that merges financial rewards into gaming experiences. Their initial game, “Gangster Arena,” reportedly recorded 150 ETH worth of in-game transactions during its inaugural season. The upcoming launches of “Gangster Arena 2” and other projects have been announced. The funds garnered will be allocated towards creating Uncharted’s games and fostering their ecosystem.

Contango secures $5M to blockchain, AI seed fund

Contango Digital Assets, a Canadian venture capital firm established in 2020, has recently announced the preliminary funding of $5 million for its new blockchain and AI-focused fund, named the Contango Blockchain x AI Fund. The objective of this fund is to invest up to $10 million in North American seed-stage companies that merge blockchain technology with artificial intelligence (AI).

Binance Labs becomes an investor in Movement Labs

Expert: Binance Labs, the investment wing of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has quietly put money into Movement Labs, a blockchain development firm based in an undisclosed amount. Movement Labs concluded a $38 million Series A financing round not long ago. This company is constructing a network of Modular Move-centric blockchains. According to the announcement, the capital will be deployed to broaden their collection of open-source resources, structures, and procedures, thereby boosting the usage of the Move programming language among various blockchain platforms. Movement Labs was established in 2022 by Rushi Manche and Cooper Scanlon, pioneers in the Move community. Additionally, Movement Labs is prioritizing growth in the Asia-Pacific market.

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2024-05-01 21:51