Funding
Three-month-old stealth Singapore game-fi startup raises seed funding of US$2.7 million
SINGAPORE, Feb. 24, 2022 — Singapore-based game finance (game-fi) blockchain startup, Ethlas, announced today that it has secured US$2.7 million in seed funding from investors such as Sequoia Capital India, Yield Guild Games Southeast Asia, Global Blockchain Innovative Capital, Venturra Capital, Play It Forward DAO, Blockchain Space, Genesis Fund, Deus Ex DAO, Hustle Fund, and executives from Grab, Coinbase, Switcheo and CoinMarketCap. The hitherto stealth start-up has also unveiled the identities of two of its four founders: American Gennady ‘Ari’ Medvinsky and Singaporean Elston Sam, who have both worked in top tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, Grab, and Airbnb. The identities of the other two founders – one of whom is a very senior executive with a Big Tech firm – will be disclosed in due course.
The three-month-old Ethlas is the first game-fi startup founded in Singapore to have secured serious investor money, underlining the confidence that VCs have in this fledgling tech startup that first launched quietly in November 2021. Built on the Polygon blockchain, Ethlas has chalked up over 100,000 crypto-wallet users globally and scored some three million gameplays on its platform as of end-January 2022. The rapid scale that Ethlas achieved product market fit has been one of the key reasons for its seed fundraising success.
According to a Bloomberg report in January 2022, the number of blockchain games grew nearly threefold: from about 200 in 2020 to more than 544 in 2021. Most game-fi platforms have a high barrier of entry, requiring gamers to pay subscription fees or have upfront capital. On the contrary, Ethlas – a portmanteau of “Ethereum” and “Atlas” – is a free-to-play, play-to-earn platform which helps the lay person win and encash cryptocurrency, by participating in simple, easily-understood casual games that everyone is familiar with. Think Tetris, Candy Crush and Bubble Popper but way cooler. To start playing, gamers just need to install MetaMask, a software crypto wallet or link their wallets, and they can start playing in the Ethlas metaverse on a PC or mobile phone’s browser. There are no complicated onboarding rules or requirements to sign up with a hefty subscription fee.
“Komo” NFT minted
As part of its product roadmap, Ethlas will mint its first series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called Komos. Modelled after the Komodo Dragons of Indonesia, the Komo NFTs will benefit both free-to-play gamers and crypto natives: Free-to-play gamers can use the five tiers of the Komo NFT to boost their gameplay and secure more $XGEM (Exchange Genesis Ethlas Medium), the in-game cryptocurrency in the Ethlas metaverse; crypto natives can benefit from the intrinsic value of a well-designed NFT that has in-game utility and facilitates scholarships (NFT rental). The Komo NFT series will be available before end-February 2022. Ethlas is also working with game studios to launch their games on their platform through a revenue-sharing model.
“The unique value proposition of Komo NFTs is that they do not only function as game passes on Ethlas granting players special access to games and features, they are also asset-backed NFTs, which consist of staked tokens wrapped as an ERC-721 token that has recently started gaining popularity. Ethlas’ Komo NFTs possess both intrinsic artistic as well as monetary value, thereby driving up their desirability as a piece of tradeable art. Most game NFTs do not provide such value as Komo,” says Ethlas co-founder, Elston Sam.
Moonshot vision of one billion users
The founders of Ethlas were intrigued by the potential of game-fi when they read of Filipinos earning more money from playing games on game-fi platforms than from their day jobs. With their convictions that Web 3.0 will be powered by cryptocurrency and its social impact, the four founders decided to take the plunge and leave their well-paying jobs to build Ethlas. Their moonshot vision: make crypto inclusive and accessible by onboarding the next billion non-crypto users onto the Ethlas metaverse. Ethlas has plans to work with regulators to develop a framework for game-fi as it believes regulations and consumer education are key to facilitate the growth of this currently nascent but immense game-fi ecosystem in a safe and controlled manner.
“Consumer gaming platforms can amass millions of engaged players – combine that with asset ownership through NFTs and a crypto rewards layer, the network incentives fall back into the hands of the players. This is an immensely powerful flywheel. We also like that Ethlas is onboarding native gamers onto Web 3.0 and that the team is hyper-focused on delivering a delightful gaming experience. We have been very impressed with the platform’s rapid user adoption and high gamer engagement, suggesting strong future growth prospects,” Aakash Kapoor, Vice President, Sequoia India.
“We recognise that blockchain has a high barrier of entry, and currently appeals only to a skewed demographic. While GBIC is always looking out for blockchain startups to invest in, we are looking for those with a serious direction and vision. The direction of Ethlas was very clear and we believe in their vision that games will be a significant channel to onboard the next billion users into crypto. Unlike the current play-to-earn games, Ethlas’ operating model allows even people who do not even know crypto to just do a one-click sign in with MetaMask, and they can play for fun and earn. We are excited to be one of the early VCs to help Ethlas take flight,” says Sinhae Lee, Partner, Global Blockchain Innovation Capital.
Ethlas has built up a team of more than 20 blockchain engineers, game developers, data scientists, cybersecurity experts and designers, based out of Singapore, Philippines and the United States. The startup is founded in Singapore as the country has a good tech ecosystem that fosters and enables innovation, especially in crypto, and has good access to venture capital. It will leverage its seed funding to aggressively hire tech talent in the Web 3.0 space.
About Ethlas
Launched in November 2021, Ethlas is a free-to-play/play-to-earn blockchain-based game finance (GameFi) Metaverse built on the Polygon chain, the protocol for enabling interoperability and scalability within the Ethereum blockchain ecosystem. Founded by a group of four tech leaders with extensive experience in leading teams across tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Airbnb and Grab, etc, Ethlas is headquartered in Singapore with offices in San Francisco Bay Area and New York, United States, and Manila, Philippines.
Within two months of its beta launch and with minimal marketing, Ethlas chalked up more than three million gameplays with over 100,000 unique wallet IDs to its gamepage. Ethlas minted its first Windblown asset-backed NFTs in December 2021.
The Ethlas GameFi metaverse has been voted “Best NFT Project” by Polygon, and ranked the number one blockchain casual game on PlayToEarn.net, which tracks and ranks the most popular crypto and NFT blockchain games.
Ethlas is backed by Sequoia Capital India, Global Blockchain Innovative Capital, Play It Forward DAO, Genesis Fund, Blockchain Space, Venturra Capital, and executives from Coinbase, CoinMarketCap, Grab and Switcheo.
Funding
Tulsa based FortySix Venture Capital Announces Investment in Exum Instruments’ Series A Round
FortySix Venture Capital LLC, (46VC), a Tulsa-based venture capital firm, is excited to announce its strategic investment in Exum Instruments’ Series A funding round, marking the first investment from their recently launched Kinetic Fund.
Exum Instruments, a Denver-based scientific instruments company, has developed the revolutionary Massbox™, a cutting-edge instrument that democratizes mass spectrometry analysis. Unlike traditional analytical tools that were primarily accessible to PhD chemists, the Massbox’s innovative design and user-friendly software empower individuals across various scientific disciplines to conduct accurate and efficient chemical characterization in a matter of minutes with mobile capability. For a variety of end users, this accelerates new material development, quality control, failure analysis and more.
This round of funding will play a pivotal role in supporting the company’s expansion plans. With the funding, Exum Instruments aims to establish a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, enabling them to scale up production significantly. This increased manufacturing capacity will not only meet the rapidly growing demand for the Massbox™ but also position Exum Instruments as a key player in the scientific instruments market. Massbox™ has been adopted by several manufacturing concerns and high-profile laboratories, including the Department of Energy national labs, Los Alamos National Lab and the SLAC Accelerator Lab. Tracy Poole, Managing Partner of 46VC had this to say about the investment: “We were excited to be in a position to join with a group of local investors like Energy Innovation Capital, Advantage Capital, Boyd Street Ventures, Alchemy Capital and Cortado Ventures to advance innovation in the materials and energy spaces and help bring a top-notch team of innovators to build in Tulsa“. Jeff Williams, Exum CEO stated, “We are thrilled and honored to receive support from some of the strongest VCs in the region, and we look forward to leveraging their broad experience and connections to fuel our growth.”
The investment will enhance the local economy and promote innovation in the region by generating 25-30 high-tech jobs in Tulsa. This significant contribution is made possible through 46VC’s special partnership with the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) leveraging OCAST’s recent investment of U.S. Treasury’s SSBCI funds in 46VC’s Kinetic Fund.
About 46VC
46VC is a venture capital fund manager based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 46VC has a regional strategy to invest in startups and technologies in the heartland region where it has unique access to deal flow and domain expertise.
For more information on 46VC please visit the firm’s website at www.46.capital
About Exum Instruments
Exum Instruments is a scientific instrumentation company building instruments and software ecosystems to increase the speed of materials development and discovery, offering easy access to high performance at a low cost. Exum’s first instrument, The Massbox™, is the first Laser Ablation Laser Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (LALI-TOF-MS) on the market, capable of analyzing any sample you can throw at it – precisely, rapidly, and inexpensively.
For more information on Exum, please visit: www.exuminstruments.com
Investment round led by Bank of America with significant participation from Pivot Investment Partners and ING Ventures
OpenFin, the operating system (OS) of enterprise productivity, today announced that it has secured $35 million in Series D investment. The latest funding round was led by Bank of America with significant participation from Pivot Investment Partners and ING Ventures. Additional investors in the round include CME Ventures, CTC Venture Capital, SC Ventures and Tribeca Early Stage Partners.
The investment will be used to help accelerate the adoption of OpenFin OS across the financial industry and beyond. OpenFin’s web-based OS is becoming a de facto standard in financial services for powering next-generation applications and digital experiences for employees and clients. The software is now used at more than 3,800 banks, wealth, and asset management firms in 60+ countries.
The funding round comes during a period of record growth for OpenFin driven by rapid adoption of OpenFin Workspace, the visual interface of OpenFin OS. Introduced in 2021, OpenFin Workspace includes an app launcher, notification center, universal search, an enterprise browser with default interoperability, and app store capabilities. These components help unify and simplify the end user experience across both internal and 3rd party apps, significantly enhancing productivity and reducing operational risk.
According to multiple recent surveys from Forbes Technology Council, Harvard Business Review1 and others, end users experience anywhere from 2 to 4 hours of lost productivity each day, often referred to as the “toggle tax”. The wasted time stems from employees using anywhere from 7 to 35 apps a day, toggling between those apps thousands of times a day, and individually searching apps an hour a day. This translates to a cost of millions or tens of millions of dollars a year in lost productivity depending on the size of an organization.
Dinkar Jetley, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Pivot Investment Partners, said: “OpenFin provides the financial industry with a truly open workspace platform that is unrivaled when it comes to app distribution, security, interoperability, scale and governance. We have backed OpenFin’s vision since 2015 and are delighted to support the company as they expand across the financial sector and beyond.”
Last year, OpenFin announced its expansion into the government sector via a strategic partnership and investment from In-Q-Tel (IQT).
Mazy Dar, CEO of OpenFin said: “This is a significant milestone in OpenFin’s mission to enable openness, app interoperability and end user productivity across the financial industry. OpenFin Workspace is empowering financial institutions to transform experience for their employees and their customers, replacing traditional browsers with an enterprise browser designed for work. We’re delighted to welcome Bank of America as our newest strategic investor and we’re grateful for the continued support from Pivot Investment Partners and so many other existing investors.”
Other major OpenFin investors include Bain Capital Ventures, Barclays, DRW Venture Capital, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, NYCA Partners and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital.
About OpenFin
Move Fast. Break Nothing. OpenFin is The Operating System of Enterprise Productivity, enabling app distribution, workspace management and workflow automation. OpenFin OS currently runs at more than 3,800 banks and buy-side firms with thousands of internal apps and apps from the global vendor community. OpenFin investors include Bain Capital Ventures, Barclays, In-Q-Tel, CME Ventures, CTC Venture Capital, DRW Venture Capital, HSBC, ING Ventures, J.P. Morgan, NYCA Partners, Pivot Investment Partners, Standard Chartered and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital among others. The company is based in New York with an office in London and presence in Hong Kong and Singapore.
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