PH startup Yield Guild Games nets $4.6m from Andreesen Horowitz

Yield Guild Games, a Philippine-based decentralised gaming guild, announced that it has raised $4.6 million investment led by venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz (a16z).

Kingsway Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Atelier Ventures, and gaming entrepreneur Gabriel Leydon also participated in the funding round, which was finalised before the Yield GUild token sale on July 27.

Yield Guild Games is a gaming guild of players and investors who generate yield from NFT-based games. It aims to create value for its members by developing the content and economy of virtual worlds and blockchain-based games.

The startup said it will use the fresh funding to continue its investment in digital assets in games and virtual worlds across the play-to-earn ecosystem while expanding its global community of over 48,000 gamers. More than half of its gamers are residing in the Philippines.

As a provider of scholarships to the game Axie Infinity, Yield Guild Games’ player base can borrow its yield-generating in-game assets under a revenue-sharing model, so they can begin earning an income from playing NFT games without having to invest any money upfront.

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To date, YGG has 4,700 scholars, over 2500 of whom are Filipinos, in the game Axie Infinity that have earned over 43M SLP ($8.6 million).

“The intersection of crypto and gaming is one of the most exciting areas in tech today,” said Arianna Simpson, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “YGG is at the center of play-to-earn, a new model that marks a meaningful evolution in gaming economies, where more of the value is retained by the players and community, rather than the gaming platforms.

The funding marks a16z’s first investment in a Filipino-led startup. Founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz (known as a16z) is a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, California, that backs bold entrepreneurs building the future through technology.

It invests in seed to late-stage technology companies, across the consumer, enterprise, bio/healthcare, crypto, and fintech spaces. a16z has $18.8B in assets under management across multiple funds.