VC firm Play Ventures launches $75m metaverse-focused fund

Singaporean VC firm Play Ventures has raised a total of $75 million for a new fund that seeks to support metaverse entrepreneurs.

The company, which is focused on funding gaming startups, has now raised its total assets under management to over $300 million.

Named Play Future Fund, the new vehicle, seeks to invest in a new generation of metaverse entrepreneurs building at the emerging intersection of gaming and web3.

The new fund is oversubscribed, backed by prominent investors in global gaming companies and institutional investors, alongside notable founders and individual investors from gaming and blockchain.

According to the media release, Play Ventures believes that the first $100-billion gaming startup will be a blockchain gaming studio and the new fund intends to capture this opportunity.

Web3 and play-and-earn will fundamentally disrupt the way games are designed, played, and experienced. Open public blockchains provide a blank canvas for innovators not seen since the inception of the Internet.

“A huge global digitally native player base will embrace the opportunity to live, learn, play and earn online, ” said GP Kenrick Drijkoningen who is leading Play Future Fund. He is the founder of LuneX Ventures, a dedicated crypto and blockchain fund launched in 2018.

Henric Suuronen and Harri Manninen, founders of Play Future Fund, will also support the Play Ventures team.

Suuroren said Play Future Fund marries two very distinct universes – push into web3 while crypto native companies are trying to enter the $180 billion gaming industry- with entirely new experiences to gamers worldwide.

Meanwhile, the company has announced investments in three companies that include Community Gaming, ReNFT, and GuildFi.

Joining Drijkoningen in leading the team are Anton Backman (principat at Play Ventures) and Vincent Lim (analyst).

Play Ventures, which has offices in Singapore and Helsinki, Finland invests globally in pre-seed and seed-stage gaming startups and focuses on free-to-play mobile and PC opportunities and gaming services startups.