Murasaki, a GameFi company run by Japanese developers based in the Netherlands, announced on Wednesday that it has raised €1.5M in a Seed round of funding. The company builds decentralised video games and products, entirely on the blockchain.
GameFi is the combination of the word gaming and decentralised finance (DeFi), a term used to refer to game titles operating under play-to-earn dynamics.
The round was led by Tokyo-based venture capital firm Incubate Fund. The firm claims to be one of the largest venture capital firms in Japan and specialises in pre- and post-launch Seed stage companies. It has already invested in more than 400 startups, including Gumi, bitFlyer, Coincheck, Thirdverse, and Gamewith, through its affiliated funds.
Capital utilisation
Murasaki says it will use the funds to develop the next generation of decentralised, community-powered games.
Shinnosuke Murata, Murasaki’s CEO and co-founder, says, “This investment round is incredibly exciting for us, as it will allow us to further develop our assets and optimise the beta version of Cyberstella, adding new features, worlds, missions and environments. We are also planning to develop a subsequent title as well. We can’t wait for people to discover what playing a blockchain title is really like.”
The company has announced that early 2023 will see the debut of Murasaki’s Cyberstella, an NFT-focused game with a fresh approach to the play and earn concept. The beta version, to be released in late 2022, will be followed by the launch of an NFT and an official token.
On a mission to disrupt the GameFi economy
Murasaki is a game studio that aims to build decentralised games and products on the blockchain as well as create a new GameFi economy for the next generation of community-focused games.
Shinnosuke Murata, co-founder of Murasaki, says, “I was attracted to blockchain technology, which allows consensus building without racial or national boundaries, and founded Murasaki in February 2022.”
The game business is currently undergoing a revolution, with new technologies like the blockchain opening up new avenues and generating limitless financial prospects for both players and producers. Murasaki wants to make a future game engine accessible to anyone looking to create blockchain games in the true Web3 spirit.
Co-founder Shunsuke Sasaki is a game creator with a background in serial entrepreneurship and angel investing. In 2007 he founded Pokelabo Inc, a mobile gaming company. Pokelabo was then acquired by Japanese mobile gaming giant GREE in 2012 for $173.8M. Pokelabo produced some famous titles, including SINoALICE, that are well-known globally. The core founding team from Pokelabo then joined Murasaki to build multiple game titles.
