Blockchain-enabled play-to-earn game Axie Infinity is raising approximately $150 million in a Series B capital round at a $3 billion valuation, according to reporting on Monday by The Information.
- Citing two unnamed sources “with direct knowledge of the deal,” The Information wrote that venture giant Andreessen Horowitz is leading the round.
- The monster-battling game, which uses non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to reward players, made 64,933.71 ether (ETH), which was worth $220.32 million, in September. That was down from a record $342 million in August, data center Axie World shows.
- But September’s figure still represents a nearly 3,000-fold year-over-year growth.
- Axie Infinity’s most recent fundraising round was a $7.5 million series A announced on May 11, 2021, according to Crunchbase. The round’s lead investor was Libertus Capital, and other investors included Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, the Collaborative Fund and 500 Startups Vietnam.
- Prior to that, Axie Infinity had raised a $1.5 million seed round led by mobile game publisher Animoca Brands that was announced on Nov. 7, 2019.
- Launched by Sky Mavis in 2018, Axie Infinity came into the spotlight in the early third quarter of this year as yield compression in bitcoin and DeFi drove hot money into gaming and NFTs.
- The game has become a significant source of income in countries like Brazil, the Philippines, Venezuela and Vietnam. It’s become so popular in the Philippines that the government has expressed its intention to tax Axie players.
- Axie Infinity’s AXS token hit a record high on Monday after it recently announced that it would distribute over $60 million worth of tokens to its early adopters, as well as launch staking capabilities.
UPDATE (Oct. 4, 21:56 UTC): Updated with additional background in sixth, seventh and eighth bullet points.
UPDATE (Oct. 4, 22:12 UTC): Updated with information about Axie’s previous fundraising in fourth and fifth bullet points.
