Boardroom’s latest Metaverse VC Roundup also includes fundraising updates from Eterlast, Mozart, Mozilla, and more.
The Web3 world has been anything but quiet this week, but some startups are heads down and focused on building the future of the growing industry.
The latest edition of Boardroom’s biweekly Metaverse VC Roundup highlights investments from crypto, NFT, and gaming startups looking to break into Web3.
Ramp: $70M for Crypto Payments Infrastructure
UK-based Ramp closed a $70 million Series B funding round co-led by Mubadala Capital and Korelya Capital. The crypto startup offers a payment platform that lets users buy cryptocurrencies within any website, and Ramp calls itself the PayPal service for the Web3 industry.
Ramp is using the Series B to further develop its crypto payments infrastructure, fill more senior-level roles, and add local fiat currencies and payment methods as part of a global expansion. As part of the funding round, Frederic Lardieg from Mubadala Capital is joining Ramp as a director, and Korelya Capital’s Paul Degueuse will join as an observer.
Balderton Capital and Cogito Capital also invested in Ramp’s Series B.
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Eterlast: $4.5M for NFT Gaming Experiences
Gaming startup Eterlast launched its business with $4.5 million from a portfolio of notable firms.
Immutable X, Supernode Global, Play Ventures, Active Partners, Stake Capital, and Founders Factory participated in the company’s first major funding round. Eterlast will use the capital to begin developing Web3-focused games for sports fans, building its user base, and securing brand partnerships.
“We understand NFTs not as a product, but as a technology that enhances the experience of current use cases around gaming, collecting, and experiencing live events,” Eterlast founder and CEO Joan Roure said in a statement. “With that view, we are building holistic ecosystems that bring those three elements together.”
Courtyard: $7M to Make Physical Collectibles Digital
NFT platform Courtyard raised $7 million in seed funding. New Enterprise Associates led the fundraising round that included participation from Y Combinator, OpenSea Ventures, VaynerFund, Brink’s, Cherry Ventures, and a group of undisclosed angel investors.
Courtyard built a platform that lets users put their physical collectibles on the blockchain as NFTs to be owned and traded. Every NFT on the company’s platform is physically backed by a replica collectible.
Courtyard plans to use the new capital for product development, hiring, and market expansion.
“Most of us on the Courtyard team are collectors in some form who’ve experienced the hassles of trading firsthand,” Courtyard CEO Nicolas le Jeune said in a press release. “We are eager to introduce brands and consumers to the future of buying and selling physical assets and empower them with the control, transparency, and security that have been missing from the collector ecosystem thus far.”
Mozart: $3M to Onramp Gamers to Web3
New Web3 gaming startup Mozart closed a $3 million pre-seed round to build a platform that introduces game developers and gamers to Web3.
Mozart’s mission is to help simplify game developers’ integration to Web3 gaming experiences. The startup has a suite of offerings and products for game studios to onboard their teams to the new growing industry. Mozart specifically wants to help developers integrate NFTs into gaming experiences.
“We eliminate the complexity for game studios by giving them a web2-like SDK [software development kit] and tools to integrate NFT components,” Mozart Co-Founder and CEO Arman Puri said in a statement. “We’re providing game developers with the tools necessary to build a simpler onramp for players to enjoy their gaming experience. No web3 experience needed.”
Arcanum Capital, AG Build, Future Perfect Ventures, and SaxeCap are among the list of investors that participated in Mozart’s first funding round.
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VC Funds
Venture capital firms are back and launching new funds focused on serving the Web3 and tech industries.
- Mozilla launched a $35 million venture capital fund to invest in seed to Series A-stage startups. Mozilla Ventures is looking to pour into tech companies working to empower the good of the internet.
- Miami-based Double Down launched a $30 million fund to invest in Web3 consumer startups. The firm, led by investor Magdalena Kala, has already made nine Web3 investments.
More Investments
- South Korea-based video game developer Wemade raised $46 million from Microsoft, Shinhan Asset Management, and Kiwoom Securities.
- Crypto wallet startup Braavos closed a $10 million funding round led by Pantera Capital with participation from Crypto.com, Starkware, BH Digital, and more.
- Web3 search engine startup Sepana nabbed $10 million to help make Web3 content more discoverable with its search tools.
- Blockchain fraud prevention startup TRM Labs raised $70 million in an expanded Series B round led by Thoma Bravo, with participation from Goldman Sachs, PayPal Ventures, Amex Ventures, and Citi Ventures.
- State-chartered digital assets bank Custodia raised $7 million from an undisclosed portfolio of investors.
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