$400M gaming VC fund Bitkraft teams up with Delphi on blockchain gaming

Gaming-focused venture capital fund Bitkraft Ventures has partnered with crypto industry research firm Delphi Digital in order to invest in related projects.

The collaboration, announced on April 29, will allow Bitkraft to increase its focus on investments in firms that use blockchain technology in addition to crypto assets and economics.

Bitkraft was founded in 2015 and has more than $400 million in assets under management with more than 50 investments in companies such as Epic Games, BitFry, and Fuze TV. In August 2020, the company raised $165 million to invest in digital gaming and e-sports and it is now betting big on crypto and blockchain.

Founded in 2018, Delphi Digital is an institutional-grade research firm focused exclusively on crypto and digital assets.

The two companies intend to combine their collective expertise in gaming, e-sports, digital entertainment, crypto technology, and the crypto asset class. Bitkraft Ventures will open its investment strategy to support investments in tokens as an asset class.

Founding partner at Bitkraft Ventures, Jens Hilgers, stated that the partnership hopes to embrace the inevitable change crypto will bring to gaming and beyond.

“The open infrastructure born out of decentralized technologies is reaching sufficient maturity to support new business models and content types at scale,”

Bitkraft hired blockchain and gaming metaverse expert, and venture partner at Delphi Digital, Piers Kicks, earlier this year to spearhead its foray into the crypto industry.

Delphi Digital co-founder and COO, Anil Lulla, said the combination of expertise in the two companies “will be a compelling value proposition for prospective portfolio companies” looking to invest in the emerging space.

There has been a considerable overlap with the gaming industry and crypto space in recent months. Major Japanese game developer Nexon announced a $100 million investment in Bitcoin on April 28, while gaming giant Ubisoft announced its intentions to become corporate baker on the Tezos network the day before.

On April 8, video game stalwart Atari announced a new blockchain division that will focus on leveraging the technology for decentralized gaming.