Immutable raises $200M to invest in blockchain gaming, bringing valuation to $2.5B

Published at: March 7, 2022

Australian NFT trading platform Immutable announced a $200 million Series C funding round led primarily by Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek and with participation from Animoca Brands and Tencent. Additional investment from ParaFi Capital, Princeville Capital and Arrington Capital as well as from existing backers King River Capital, Prosus Ventures, AirTree Ventures, Declaration Partners and others have raised Immutable’s valuation to $2.5 billion.  

The company intends to put this capital toward developing its Immutable X layer-2 scaling solution for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum network and scaling Immutable Gaming Studio, which includes its flagship Gods Unchained and Guild of Guardians video games. Immutable X uses StarkWare’s StarkEx zero-knowledge proof technology to achieve scalability on Ethereum while providing game developers with zero gas fees and a carbon-neutral environment.

Robbie Ferguson, Immutable’s co-founder and president, tweeted that the future of gaming is dependent on NFT economies and that Immutable wants to pioneer NFT adoption.

1/ Thrilled to announce @Immutable's next chapter alongside @temasek. NFTs are eating the world. Gaming will be the trojan horse that means your family can trade and own digital property, without them even knowing. https://t.co/A1q9AUJfXJ

— Robbie Ferguson (@0xferg) March 7, 2022

Related: Monthly NFT buyers dip below 800K as searches ‘fall off a cliff’

Ferguson added that the digital future will need open order books as opposed to siloed liquidity, and “genuine” decentralization on Ethereum as well as consumer-focused NFT projects.

According to the company, part of Immutable’s plans for “rapid global expansion” include onboarding four new executives: Justin Hulog, former Riot Games general manager, as chief studio officer; Gill Findlay, AirTree ventures partner, as chief operating officer; John Boris, former CEO of IfOnly, as chief growth officer; and Katherine Rau as chief people officer. Immutable also plans to grow its 165-person team by adding 200 new employees globally this year.

Related: Immutable X (IMX) price soars after GameStop partnership and new project launches

Recently, Immutable partnered with GameStop to develop the game retailer’s upcoming NFT marketplace as well as sponsor game creators via a $100 million grant program. Other companies currently building on Immutable X include TikTok, OpenSea, Ember Sword, GreenPark Sports and Gary Vee’s Vee Friends.

Immutable is one of several blockchain and crypto-focused companies to have achieved “unicorn” status over the past year. In the startup community, a unicorn is a company that achieves a valuation of $1 billion or more.

Tags
Adoption
Nft
Ethereum
Australia
Marketplace
Tencent
Related Posts
Navigating the NFT minefield: It should be made easy for first-time buyers
Whether it’s baseball players or shiny Pokemon cards, collectibles have been a cultural mainstay in human behavior since the Renaissance. Memorabilia from famous films or items of clothing worn by a celebrity can be auctioned and sold for eye-watering amounts. Take the prototype Batmobile from the 1960s Batman TV show, it was sold for $4.2 million. With collectibles, the concept itself is simple: An item has value based on its scarcity. The less of it there is, the more it’s worth. It is this concept that is the driving principle behind the explosive growth of nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Largely bought …
Adoption / Oct. 9, 2021
SuperRare has fewer buyers, but they purchase more expensive NFTs, data shows
NFT marketplace SuperRare has set a new monthly record of $31.4 million for total sales volume with a week to spare until the end of October, according to Dune Analytics. SuperRare is a single-edition Ethereum (ETH) NFT marketplace, where collectors can purchase a blockchain deed of ownership for digital items such as memes, videos or artworks. The monthly sales record was previously $29.5 million in March, with 929 active collectors purchasing 3,179 artworks. The average artwork price ranged between 3.0 and 5.5 Ether, or about $12,600 to $23,000. Despite reaching a higher total sales volume this month, SuperRare has half …
Adoption / Oct. 26, 2021
OpenDAO (SOS), LooksRare (LOOKS) and WTF token: 3 airdrops, with 1 scam
NFTs continue to surge with what looks to be no end in sight. Since January 14, 2022 OpenSea notched trading volumes over $1.03 billion, and its latest rival, LooksRare, has eclipsed the platform according to data from DappRadar. What’s clear is that NFT collectors and traders appear to be shifting their sentiment on where they are seeing value. Since the start of 2022 there's been an emphasis on “community” with a buzz and advocacy of rewarding users for their participation. OpenSea has already generated more than $3.2 billion in total volume despite many NFT traders feeling that the marketplace betrayed …
Adoption / Jan. 21, 2022
OpenSea planned upgrade stalls as phishing attack targets NFT migration
Just yesterday, OpenSea announced a smart contract upgrade, which requires users to migrate their listed NFTs from Ethereum (ETH) blockchain to a new smart contract. As a direct result of the upgrade, users that don't migrate over from Ethereum risk losing their old, inactive listings — which currently require no gas fees for migration. Major nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has reportedly fallen victim to an ongoing phishing attack within hours after announcing a week-long planned upgrade to delist inactive NFTs on the platform. However, the urgency and short deadline opened up a small window of opportunity for hackers. Within …
Adoption / Feb. 20, 2022
OpenSea top-10 NFT projects soar as new liquidity enters the market
Spring is here and with it came a newfound awakening for nonfungible tokens (NFTs). In the last week of March, total sales volume rallied to $20 billion, but this metric took a dive from mid April to $17.6 billion. However, on April 16, the newly landed Moonbirds NFT, pumped over $280 million worth of liquidity into the market and this, compounded with rumors of Yuga Labs’ Otherside land drop, sent the total volume sales for NFTs into a steady upward trend. In the last seven days, the sector’s total market capitalization increased over 3% to approximately $18.6 billion and the …
Adoption / April 25, 2022