Sapien raises $5 million for its gamified data labeling platform, aiming to build the largest AI training with blockchain incentives.
fundraise
Farmville co-creator-led company raises $33M to create Web3 games
Proof of Play raised $33 million to create fully on-chain games that “quickly immerse players in fun gameplay.“
Proof of Play, a company led by Farmville co-creator Amitt Mahajan, raised $33 million to create Web3 games, according to a Sept. 21 announcement. Majahan is the CEO of Proof of Play, and Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear is a board member.
The funding was co-led by Chris Dixon at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Neil Mehta at Greenoaks. Investors Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan and the founders of streaming platform Twitch also participated, as well as Web3 firms Anchorage Digital, Mercury, Firebase, Zynga and Alchemy.
Proof of Play released a closed beta of its first game, Pirate Nation, in December 2022.
In its announcement, the company claimed it can overcome many roadblocks players commonly encounter when attempting to play Web3 games. It stated that it possesses “a set of technological and product innovations” that will “quickly immerse players in fun gameplay” without learning about blockchain first.
Related: Atari founder sees Web3 games as vital for virtual ownership and education
Proof of Play also stated that it is committed to decentralization. Pirate Nation is a “Forever Game” that can be run without external servers or creator intervention, adding that the company intends to open-source its technology framework in the future to decentralize further.
The Proof of Play team includes members from several large gaming and web companies, including Epic Games, Zynga, EA, Activision and Google.
Multimillion-dollar funding rounds from Web3 companies have become the norm in 2023. EVE Online developer CCP Games raised $40 million in March to develop a new spinoff EVE game, and Hyperplay raised $12 million in June to further develop its distribution platform and Steam competitor.
LinksDAO likely to put in ‘compelling offer’ to buy Scottish golf course
If the final tally remains in favor of the purchase, the LinksDAO acquisition committee will officially put out a “compelling offer” to purchase the golf course.
The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO)-operated golf startup, LinksDAO, may soon put in an offer to purchase the newly marketed Spey Bay Golf Club in Scotland worth about $900,000.
LinksDAO — self-described as a “global group of golf enthusiasts” that is on a mission to build the “world’s greatest golf community” — officially opened the proposal vote on Feb. 20, which came after a few weeks of informal deliberation.
It would be the DAO’s first ever golf course purchase.
few things in life are more fun than doing what you said you were going to do, regardless of adversity
— Mike Dudas (@mdudas) February 21, 2023
i will love the @linksdao core team, contributors and members forever for delivering 110%
bear markets mean nothing when passion meets greatnesshttps://t.co/1iqvi1sHIx pic.twitter.com/qQGLYxlB9F
While voting officially closes on Feb. 22 at 12pm Eastern Time, over 88% of the 4,100 LinksDAO token holders have already voted in favor of the proposal.
If the final tally remains in favor of the purchase, the LinksDAO acquisition committee will meet with the relevant parties required to construct a “compelling offer” for the purchase of the club “with the full intent of successfully purchasing the golf course,” the proposal stated.
The authors of the proposal — “Bez”, “Jim”, “cbruce”, and “nickwalkermsu” — explained that while much of the DAO’s research efforts have gone into finding a suitable golf course purchase in the United States, “this listing was too special to ignore.”
“In our search for our first golf course to purchase, we have identified a promising property in Scotland called Spey Bay Golf Club. This vote is to determine if we should move forward with submitting an offer and working to purchase the course.”
The authors added that the course is “playable today,” and that its high ceiling to low price ratio makes it a worthy investment.
“Even a price of triple the ‘guide price’ would be cheaper than most mediocre courses we have assessed thus far in the US,” the authors explained.
As such, LinksDAO compressed the voting window to 48 hours in order to act swiftly on the potential purchase and hopefully get good price for the club:
“The timing of the sale requires us to act now should we decide to participate in the process. [...] We intend to execute this purchase while maintaining velocity on our efforts to acquire course(s) in the US.”
LinksDAO is expecting to pitch an offer in the vicinity of $900,000, which is said to be roughly its current market value, according to Golf Business News.
The 18-hole golf course is located in Fochabers, about 3.5 hours away from Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh.
The DAO explained the potential purchase would be financed with capital from its fundraise and that it would transfer funds from its treasury to a corporate bank account to support ongoing operations.
The authors of the proposal noted that this would occur within 30 days of the purchase.
#ForSale, Spey Bay #Golf Course, #Morayshire (including club house and caravan park). A fantastic opportunity to purchase an 18-hole links course (designed by the legendary Ben Sayers) located on the beautiful #Moray #coast. https://t.co/TavZpZ0hrZ
— Strutt & Parker Scotland (@struttsscotland) January 26, 2023
#Scotland pic.twitter.com/lXz6Xgml5v
LinksDAO officially established itself as a DAO in January 2022, which came on the back of a $10.5 million fundraising effort where more than 9,000 of its “leisure” and “global” membership NFTs were sold on OpenSea in a short 24 hour period.
There are now 5,302 owners of LinksDAO memberships, which are issued on the Ethereum network, according to nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea.
The average floor price of the memberships is 0.29 Ether (ETH), or about $480 at current prices.
Related: Types of DAOs and how to create a decentralized autonomous organization
While it is not known how much is in the LinksDAO treasury, the LinksDAO market cap is currently $4.34 million, according to CoinGecko.
Welcome to LinksDAO, @StephenCurry30 - See you on the 1st tee! ⛳️
— Links (@LinksDAO) January 10, 2022
NBA superstar Stephen Curry is a notable figure to have invested in a LinksDAO membership. However it is not known whether he is still a token holder.
Quicknode Raises $60 Million in Series B to ‘Fuel Blockchain Adoption’ and Expand Globally
Web3 infrastructure firm Quicknode raised $60 million in a Series B funding round, according to an announcement the company made on Tuesday. The capital injection brings the company’s post-valuation to $800 million, and Quicknode says the funds will be used to “further fuel blockchain adoption.” Quicknode Aims to Streamline Web2 to Web3 Movement With $60 […]Brevan Howard Subsidiary Raises $1B for Crypto Fund
Fintech Firm Galoy Raises $4 Million, Startup Introduces Bitcoin-Backed Synthetic Dollar Product
On Wednesday, Galoy, the firm behind El Salvador’s Bitcoin Beach Wallet, announced that the company raised $4 million in funding in an investment round led by Hivemind Ventures. On the same day, the startup launched a new product called Stablesats, a stablecoin concept that leverages derivatives contracts to create a bitcoin-backed synthetic dollar pegged to […]Fintech and Bitcoin Payments Firm Zebedee Raises $35 Million From Kingsway Capital, Square Enix
On Tuesday, the fintech and payment processor Zebedee announced the company has raised $35 million from Kingsway Capital, Raine Group, and video game giant Square Enix. Zebedee detailed that the Series B funding will help the startup “scale company-wide to meet the needs of the biggest names in the games industry.” Gaming-Focused Fintech Zebedee Secures […]Coinbase Ventures Backed Startup to Build Pan-African Crypto Exchange With $23 Million Capital Raise
The African startup, Mara, recently said it has raised about $23 million in funding from organizations ranging from Coinbase Ventures to individual angel investors like Amit Bhatia and Hamad Alhoimaizi. Mara has also partnered with the Central African Republic (CAR) and will act as an adviser to the country’s president. Enhancing Africa’s Competitiveness An Africa-focused […]Polygon Announces Zero-Knowledge Identity Platform for Web3
On March 29, Polygon, the layer two (L2) scaling solution that runs parallel with the Ethereum blockchain, has announced a new identity platform called Polygon ID. While the protocol is is still under development, Polygon ID is powered by zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography and Polygon expects a public version of the ID wallet app and software […]Ethereum Web3 Wallet Rainbow Raises $18 Million From Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six
The team behind the Ethereum wallet Rainbow announced the project has raised $18 million in a Series A funding round led by Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm Seven Seven Six. The new financing that follows the startup’s $1.5 million seed round will allow Rainbow to focus on “onboarding the next 100 million users to Web3.” […]