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Blockus, the web3 gaming tech stack and payments provider, has announced $4 million in pre-seed funding. Maple VC led the round with Altos Ventures and angel investors such as Zhuoxun Yin from Magic Eden, Michael Ma from CreatorDAO, and Bryan Pelligrino from LayerZero participating.
This funding round follows Blockus participating in a16z Crypto’s Startup Accelerator. In addition to helping Blockus meet advisors, the program introduced the company to its pre-seed investors.
“This pre-seed raise marks a pivotal moment in our journey,” said Jess Zhang, cofounder and CEO at Blockus. “The trust our investors, like Maple VC, have placed in us is both humbling and inspiring. We’re ready to unlock the next level of innovation in the gaming industry, and we’re excited to bring our blockchain solutions to even more studios and developers.”
Blockus’s technology platform helps game studios onboard players and build on-chain features for games easily. The company’s “wallet-as-a-service” model, white-label NFT marketplace and payments processing for both fiat and crypto payments allows game studios to focus on building games, rather than blockchain infrastructure.
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To-date, Blockus has established relationships with over 30 partners. This includes web3 game developers like Ambrus Studio, top gaming layer 1 and layer 2 chains like Polygon and Sui. Blockus also supports more traditional gaming platforms like Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.
“We’re thrilled to witness Blockus’s latest achievement,” said Johnson Yeh, Founder & CEO at Ambrus Studio. “As innovators in the gaming space, we’re proud to partner with a company that’s pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. The potential for Web3 in gaming is immense, and we’re confident that Blockus will play a major role in shaping its future.”
Blockus aims to power web3 gaming growth
While some consumers remain as crypto-skeptical as ever, dApp activity is on the rise. February 2024 saw a new all-time high of 6.7 million daily unique active wallets, with nearly 2 million of these transacting with gaming dApps. One estimate expects Web3 gaming market to reach over $600 billion by 2030 from 2023’s $8.9 billion market size. Blockus aims to capitalize on this 22% CAGR, serving as a trusted partner for blockchain game developers.
“Blockus has the potential to be the catalyst for a new era of gaming, built on the principles of decentralization and player ownership,” said Andre Charoo, General Partner at Maple VC. “The founders’ deep understanding of both gaming and Web3 technologies, combined with their track record, makes them an exceptionally compelling team to back. We believe Blockus is poised to lead the way in the Web3 gaming revolution.”
The funding will allow Blockus to accelerate growth, expand its team, strengthen sales operations, and invest in product development.
To celebrate its funding announcement, Blockus is extending an offer of $20,000 in credits to potential clients for the next two weeks. Teams can apply on Blockus’ website for these credits. The team will also make an appearance at next week’s Game Developers Conference (GDC). Web3 gaming fans are encouraged to join the company’s offsite event on March 21 at 7pm at SPIN bar.
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