A16z Leads $4.6M Investment in Yield Guild Games

Decentralized gaming startup Yield Guild Games (YGG) has raised $4.6 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), YGG announced Thursday.

• Other participating investors included venture capital firm Kingsway Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Atelier Ventures and the gaming entrepreneur Gabriel Leydon.
• YGG describes itself as a "play-to-earn gaming guild." It allows gamers to earn tokens through blockchain-based economies.
• Funding will be used by YGG to invest in digital assets in the play-to-earn games virtual world and to expand its community of over 48,000 gamers, said the firm in a press release.
• “The intersection of crypto and gaming is one of the most exciting areas in tech today,” said Arianna Simpson, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
• Simpson added YGG is at the center of the growing play-to-earn sector, "where more of the value is retained by the players and community, rather than the gaming platforms."
• In August, YGG and cryptocurrency exchange FTX signed a sponsorship deal in which Axie Infinity players from developing countries will receive scholarship funds. The deal with FTX involves YGG loaning non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to players who cannot afford to buy their own, under a revenue-sharing agreement.

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