What is the Play to Earn Blockchain & Crypto Gaming Industry?
Play-to-earn gaming, video games and virtual worlds are places where gamers play for crypto token rewards, created by an in-game economy. Some games require an investment in tokens or NFTs, while others allow people to earn crypto by playing. The P2E gaming industry is increasingly becoming a prominent feature in the gaming industry and attracting many early stage investors. Prominent games include Axie Infinity and Sand.
How we Rank these Play to Earn Investment Firms?
- Assets Under Management: The most prominent and active investors in the P2E space.
- Units Under Management: How large are the investments, although this may vary by stage of investment.
- ROI/Success: How successful have these firms been when investing in P2E ?
- Peer ranking: How well do the peers of these companies recognize their impact on P2E?
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What does Play-to-Earn mean?
What is Play-to-Earn crypto Games?
Which NFT game is free to play?
What is the best Play-to-Earn Game?
Where does Play Get Money Come From?
List of Top Play To Earn VC & Angel Investors
- Founded: 2014
- Headquarters: Hong Kong, SAR
- Founded: 2012
- Headquarters: New York City, New York
Winklevoss Capital is a family office founded in 2012 by Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss. The firm invests across multiple asset classes with an emphasis on providing seed funding and infrastructure to early-stage startups. The company is headquartered in New York’s Flatiron District. They have made numerous blockchain focused investments and recently invested in the blockchain gaming company Animoca Brands. The firm is well known for its investments across the crypto and blockhain space in general.
- Founded: 2021
- Headquarters: San Francisco, Los Angeles, California
Shima Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that focuses on the intersection of blockchain technology, decentralized finance (DeFi), and web3. They are actively involved in play-to-earn gaming projects, helping startups build the future of decentralized entertainment. Shima Capital provides both capital and strategic guidance to projects that are revolutionizing gaming through tokenomics and decentralized ownership models.
- Founded: 2020
- Headquarters: Singapore
X21 Digital is an early-stage blockchain advisory and investment firm focused on helping startups accelerate their growth. Their investment strategy includes significant backing of play-to-earn (P2E) gaming projects, NFTs, decentralized finance (DeFi), and web3 innovations. X21 Digital provides strategic guidance and resources to help blockchain gaming startups navigate the complexities of scaling in the highly competitive P2E space.
- Founded: 2019
- Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
Delphi Ventures is a research-driven investment firm with a strong focus on the intersection of decentralized finance (DeFi), web3, and crypto innovation. They are deeply involved in the play-to-earn (P2E) ecosystem, providing not only financial capital but also research and advisory services. Delphi Ventures is a key backer of projects like Axie Infinity and Yield Guild Games, playing an instrumental role in the rise of P2E gaming.
- Founded: 2022
- Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
P2V Ventures is a dedicated investment firm focused on building and scaling emerging markets through blockchain technology. Their investments center around play-to-earn gaming, NFTs, and decentralized finance (DeFi). P2V Ventures is actively investing in companies that leverage blockchain to create innovative P2E ecosystems, particularly in underrepresented markets, promoting inclusivity and economic empowerment through digital gaming economies.
- Founded: 2021
- Headquarters: Hong Kong
SkyVision Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in innovative blockchain technologies with a focus on decentralized finance (DeFi) and the play-to-earn (P2E) gaming sector. SkyVision Capital is committed to supporting projects that create decentralized digital economies, where players have true ownership of in-game assets and can earn income through gameplay. They work closely with founders to provide financial backing and strategic insights to help bring disruptive gaming products to market.
- Founded: 2020
- Headquarters: Vietnam
Kyros Ventures is a leading investment firm in Southeast Asia, focusing on blockchain technology, decentralized finance, and play-to-earn gaming ecosystems. They aim to support and incubate blockchain startups in the region, with a particular emphasis on fostering growth in emerging markets. Kyros Ventures plays a significant role in backing P2E projects that promote financial inclusion and empower players to earn real-world value through decentralized gaming platforms.
- Founded: 2019
- Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Sfermion is an investment firm focused on the metaverse, digital assets, and the growing NFT economy. Sfermion invests heavily in play-to-earn gaming projects and virtual worlds, helping to build the foundational infrastructure for the metaverse. Their portfolio includes innovative companies that are shaping the future of digital entertainment and online communities through blockchain technology.
- Founded: 2017
- Headquarters: Hong Kong
Double Peak is a family office and investment firm that focuses on blockchain technology, decentralized finance, and NFTs. They are particularly interested in the play-to-earn gaming space, supporting projects that are pioneering new ways for players to earn income through digital assets and tokenized gameplay. Double Peak is known for backing innovative gaming projects that aim to disrupt the traditional gaming industry by giving players ownership and financial rewards.
- Founded: 2021
- Headquarters: Andorra La Vella, Andorra la Vella, Andorra
RR2 Capital is an investment firm with a focus on blockchain, decentralized finance (DeFi), and the metaverse. They are deeply involved in the play-to-earn gaming sector, investing in projects that combine digital assets and decentralized ecosystems. RR2 Capital is particularly interested in innovative startups that are creating sustainable P2E economies, where gamers can earn tokenized rewards and have ownership of their digital assets.
- Founded: 2022
- Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
DWF Labs is a multi-stage investment firm specializing in the web3 and blockchain sectors. Their investment portfolio includes a strong emphasis on play-to-earn gaming, NFTs, and decentralized infrastructure. DWF Labs is committed to fostering innovation in the gaming space by backing projects that are creating new economic models for gamers through decentralized ecosystems and tokenized assets.
- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Momentum6 is a blockchain-focused marketing and investment firm that actively backs play-to-earn gaming startups. Their portfolio includes a range of decentralized applications (dApps) and NFT-based ecosystems. Momentum6 provides not only financial capital but also marketing and growth expertise, helping P2E projects scale rapidly and reach a global audience. They are known for their hands-on approach, supporting projects throughout their lifecycle from inception to mainstream adoption.
- Founded: 2017
- Headquarters: British Virgin Islands
MV Global is a forward-thinking investment firm specializing in blockchain and decentralized technologies, with a keen focus on play-to-earn (P2E) gaming. As a play-to-earn investor, MV Global seeks to identify and support innovative gaming projects that leverage blockchain technology and NFTs, creating opportunities for players to earn real-world assets through gameplay. Their investment strategy revolves around backing early-stage projects that blend entertainment with decentralized finance, facilitating the growth of sustainable digital economies. MV Global is dedicated to fostering the future of gaming by funding projects that embrace the new financial models emerging from the play-to-earn ecosystem, enhancing both player engagement and long-term value creation.
- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: Hong Kong
DWeb3 Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in decentralized web technologies, including play-to-earn gaming, NFTs, and the metaverse. The firm supports early-stage startups building on the foundations of web3, helping to create decentralized gaming ecosystems where players can earn, trade, and own digital assets. DWeb3 Capital is focused on fostering the next generation of web3 innovation by investing in projects that challenge the traditional gaming and entertainment industries.
- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: Eugene, Oregon, United States
Collab+Currency is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage investments in decentralized technologies, digital assets, and blockchain ecosystems. The firm is known for supporting innovative projects in the play-to-earn (P2E) gaming, NFTs, and decentralized finance (DeFi) spaces. Collab+Currency actively seeks out founders who are pioneering the future of digital ownership, particularly in gaming environments where players can earn, trade, and own digital assets through decentralized platforms.
- Founded: 2021
- Headquarters: New York, United States
Folius Ventures is an investment firm with a focus on blockchain-based gaming and decentralized finance (DeFi). They specialize in early-stage investments in play-to-earn gaming projects, providing both capital and advisory services to help startups scale. Folius Ventures aims to create a sustainable gaming ecosystem by investing in projects that empower players with ownership of in-game assets and enable them to earn real-world value through tokenized rewards.
- Founded: 2017
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Lattice Capital is an investment firm specializing in decentralized finance (DeFi), blockchain infrastructure, and play-to-earn gaming ecosystems. Lattice provides early-stage funding and strategic support to projects that are building the foundation of the decentralized gaming economy. The firm’s focus is on helping P2E startups grow by providing resources that enable them to create immersive gaming experiences where players can earn and own digital assets.
- Founded: 2019
- Headquarters: Santa Monica, California
Based out of Santa Monica California, and led by managing director Phil Sanderson, the firm, solely focuses on investing in gaming platforms, gaming contents and gaming studios. The company has invested in a range of important projects including Forte, which builds a blockchain based gaming platform and provides fungible and non-fungible tokens.
- Founded: 2012
- Headquarters: Santa Monica, California
- AUM: $1.2 billion
Based out of New York City, the technology focused fund, seeks to invest in the media, entertainment and commerce industry. LCV invests in companies building blockchain technology solutions and companies implementing blockchain technology (Seed through Series D) with a focus on fintech, Web 3.0, gaming, metaverse, and supply chain logistics. The company has invested in numerous blockhain startups including games like Paxos .
- Founded: 2009
- Headquarters: Menlo Park, California
- AUM: $18 billion
Andreessen Horowitz is a private American venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Andreessen Horowitz invests in both early-stage start-ups and established growth companies. The company has invested in a number of prominent play-to-earn games including Axie Infinity, where it led the Series-B round.
- Founded: 1983
- Headquarters: Palo Alto, California
- AUM: $1 billion
Based out of Palo Alto California, Accel Partners is one of the most well-known venture capital firms in the world that invests in early-stage ventures. A significant majority of their companies went onto become prominent public companies. They typically invest from series-A to Series-D. They have invested in prominent P2E/crypto gaming platforms including the likes of Axie Infinity.
What are investment firms looking for when they invest in P2E gaming?
Looking for prominent P2E investment firms for your P2E Gaming Venture?
- Founded: 2012
- Headquarters: Mountain View, California
- AUM: NA
Samsung NEXT Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Mountain View, California. The firm seeks to invest in artificial intelligence, fintech, blockchain, health tech, infrastructure, and media-tech sectors. They have led prominent Series-B rounds in games such as Axie Infinity and Sand, both of which are currently ranked as the top P2E games by market cap.
- Founded: 2012
- Headquarters: New York City, New York
- AUM: NA
The fund is the family-office of the legendary investor George Soros. It invests across a variety of investment mediums, including public/private equity and venture capital. The fund recently invested in the blockchain gaming company, Animoca Brands, for $358 million. Although traditionally venture capital is not their focus, the firm has been increasingly investing in the space in recent times.
- Founded: 2020
- Headquarters: Denver, Colorado, USA
- AUM: $75 million
Headquartered out of Ho Chi Minh, Konvoy is primarily focused on helping the next generation gaming and esports companies. The company has invested in numerous prominent early-stage gaming ventures including, Sky Mavis, Bunch, Dorian, and Genopats, which is one of the first free-to-play/move-to-earn NFT platforms.
- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: New York, New York City
- AUM: $260 million
Based out of New York City, Galaxy Interactive is looking to primarily invest in the intersection of gaming and Web 3.0. One of these gaming investments is Immutable and it has already released Gods Unchained, Ethereum’s highest-grossing trading game. The fund has invested across 60 companies, including Guild of Guardians, a NFT role-playing game that is being backed by UBISOFT.
- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California
- AUM: $500 million+
With offices in San Francisco, London, Tokyo, and Singapore, Makers Fund is a global interactive entertainment venture capital firm focused on early stage investments. It recently raised $200 million to invest in interactive entertainment like BetaDwarf, It released FORCED in 2013, Since then, Betadwarf has released SHOWDOWN and reached millions of players with Minion Masters, a full free-to-play title.
- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: Berlin, Germany
- AUM: $200 million
Headquartered out of London, United Kingdom, BITKRAFT Ventures is an early-stage and mid-stage investment platform for gaming, esports, and interactive media. The company invests across a range of P2E platforms including the likes of gaming bolt. Founded by the owner of G2 Esports the company is increasingly looking to invest in Metaverse related games as well.
What is the market potential of the P2E industry?
- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
- AUM: $400 million
Based out of London, Hiro Capital is a top blockchain gaming investor. They focus on Games, E-Sports, and Digital Sports. The fund provides both venture capital and private equity investments, including both early stage and mid stage investments. They have experience from the startup stage to the IPO stage. The company has invested in prominent gaming companies such as Light Fox Games.
- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: Singapore
- AUM: $200 million
Based out of Singapore, play ventures invests across global gaming startups. They provide early-stage capital to startups. The company has invested in a number of prominent ventures, and is always on the lookout for the next $100m+ game.
- Founded: 2017
- Headquarters: Moscow, Russia
- AUM: NA
With many years of experience in the traditional gaming industry, MG VC, has become a top investor in the blockchain/P2E gaming industry. Their prominent investments include three gaming studios: Tworogue Games, Wide View Games, and Vox Studio. Their focus has primarily been on gaming platforms based in Eastern Europe.
- Founded: 2014
- Headquarters: Santa Monica, California
- AUM: $100 million
Based out of Santa Monica, with a focus on gaming, and run by life-long game, March gaming has become a prominent venture investor in early-stage P2E games. They were early investors in games such as Small Giant Games, which was acquired by Zynga. They are on the lookout for early-stage blockchain and P2E opportunities, along with traditional gaming platforms.
What is the future of the P2E industry?
- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
- AUM: $150 million
LVP is a London based, early stage venture capital firm, focused on finding gaming opportunities They focus on mobile, online, and P2E games. They have invested in a range of NFT, and crypto gaming platforms, including the likes of Third Time Entertainment. They are increasingly focused on crypto and NFT gaming.
- Founded: 2020
- Headquarters: Tel Aviv
- AUM: $200 million
Based out of Tel-Aviv, the games focused venture fund is increasingly looking to help P2E games achieve scale, right from the ideation stage to the inception stage. They have invested in a number of prominent platforms including Dorian games, Superplay, and games such as Bandit etc.
- Founded: 2022
- Headquarters: NA
- AUM: $100 million
Mechanism Capital is looking to increasingly capitalize on the NFT/P2E revolution. Having raised $100 million dollars in 2022, the company is increasingly looking to fund early-stage gaming companies. They are increasingly focused on mobile gaming and believe the market forP2E will witness significant growth.
- Founded: 2020
- Headquarters: NA
- AUM: $70 million
Established in 2020 and, headquartered in New York, New York, United State, crossbeam is an early-stage venture capital firm that is looking to invest in fintech and blockchain. Investing in P2E platforms, and NFT focused games, crossbeam is looking to make significant investments in the space of blockchain gaming.
Looking for prominent P2E investment firms for your P2E Gaming Venture?
What is trending in the P2E industry?
- Sustainable NFT, and gaming dynamics, especially those that feature MMORPG games are becoming the biggest source of revenue in the P2E space.
- The entire industry will also see significant crossover into other areas as these platforms combine to create hybrid games.
- The most sustainable form of in-game economics, will look similar to models of traditional gaming platforms, where there value created by the ingame pieces, for example companies such as Valve, which made steam have done well in this area, other than that, Warhammer style trading, and other similar forms of gaming economics will be the best examples of types of games that are sustainable.
