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action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/scienrds/scienceandnerds/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Source:https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/04\/20\/gaming-vc-bitkraft-asia\/<\/a><\/br> With $830 million in assets under management, Bitkraft Ventures has built a name for backing early- to mid-stage web3 games and other immersive technologies. After eight years of investing mostly in the West, the firm is extending its footprint to Asia to capture the continent\u2019s savvy mobile gamers and fledgling web3 gaming space.<\/p>\n Bitkraft, which has a portfolio of over 100 startups, announced today that it is expanding to Asia by bringing on two new members: Jin Oh<\/a>, formerly president of Riot Games and CEO of Garena, will take the helm as partner; Jonathan Huang, former director at Temasek, will serve as principal.<\/span><\/p>\n Currently, Bitkraft invests 15% outside of the Western market, with the majority in Asia. Over time, the firm aims to develop a dedicated strategy for the continent with the goal of increasing investments in Asia to 20-25%.<\/p>\n Despite being a small team of two in the region, the fact that Bitkraft has boots on the ground in Asia gives it a big advantage over many other Western gaming funds, Huang, who\u2019s based in Singapore, told TechCrunch in an interview.<\/p>\n The team also benefits from the investors\u2019 complementary experiences in the gaming industry. Oh \u201creally knows the space very well as an operator\u2026 He\u2019s very well connected and knows the ins and outs of building a game and a platform and all the adjacencies with gaming,\u201d said Huang.<\/p>\n \u201cMy background is very investor focused,\u201d added the investor, who has been a lifelong gamer himself. \u201cI came through two years of banking and did investments for the last six years\u2026 Having that operator-plus-investor combo is something that\u2019s very, very powerful that we don\u2019t see in many of the funds.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh and Huang will hunt down conventional gaming projects in Asia but will also allocate a big chunk of their time to high-potential blockchain games. The firm\u2019s typical check size for seed investments in traditional equity is from $2-10 million; the checks are slightly smaller for web3 projects, ranging from $1 million to $5 million.<\/p>\n The investors are going after a sector that is still very much a niche. Despite the billions of dollars poured into web3 gaming, the genre is mostly attracting crypto-native users for now.<\/p>\n Investments for blockchain games reached $7.6 billion in 2022, more than double the sum from a year ago, according to analytics firm DappRadar<\/a>; on average, though, just over one million unique active wallets were connected to game dApps (decentralized apps) daily last year (crypto wallets are channels for gamers to access and trade their in-game assets).<\/p>\n The gaming industry overall, in comparison, is approaching three billion users by 2023, research firm Newzoo forecasted<\/a>.<\/p>\n Huang is nonetheless optimistic about blockchain-powered games, arguing that for the last few decades, breakthroughs in hardware have ushered in new innovation cycles \u2014 from arcade, console and PC to mobile games. The next innovation might not come from hardware but blockchain, which is in essence a database, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you use the existing mental model of hardware driving innovation, then this doesn\u2019t work. So at one point, I was thinking to myself\u2026 maybe we don\u2019t need hardware to drive new models of consumption\u2026 The crux of it is: Is this the new platform that is going to drive the next wave of innovation?\u201d<\/p>\n Given Bitkraft\u2019s focus on web3, it makes total sense for the firm to set up in Asia where consumer appetite for blockchain games is huge. The play-to-earn hit Axie Infinity, for example, was made in Vietnam and accrued a loyal user base in Asian countries like the Philippines<\/a>.<\/p>\n While hardcore, purist gamers might dismiss Axie as a piece of mindless work with little creative value, Huang pointed out that it is \u201cbasically a card game\u201d with a niche audience. \u201cIf you are someone that enjoys Hearthstone, or Legends of Runeterra, or any of those strategic card games, then you\u2019ll like it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Most important, he reckoned that Asia is fundamentally different from the West in that its internet users are much more \u201copen-minded.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey are a lot more embracing [towards] new monetization models, new ways of playing games. This is where gacha games originated from, something that the West was very much against. We [Asians] are very good at monetizing our players, and people are okay with pay-to-win, to an extent,\u201d the investor said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that open-mindedness basically lends the Eastern market to be a bit more receptive of web3 gaming. In essence, there isn\u2019t an immediate backlash, and people don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re just getting monetized by the publishers, which seems to be the narrative that\u2019s playing out in the West.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br><\/br><\/br><\/p>\n
\nWhy the $830M gaming fund Bitkraft is bullish on Asia<\/br>
\n2023-04-20 21:52:19<\/br><\/p>\n