Genopets Raises $8.3m in Seed Round Funding to Bridge the Physical and Digital World
Photo from GENOPETS:MEDIUM.COM
Key Points
“Our vision for Genopets was born years ago from our prior work in digital health creating passive income through non-custodial monetization of genetic and epigenetic data.”
“Earlier this year, it became clear the best way to realize that vision was through a Play-to-Earn NFT game. Our decision paralleled the astronomical growth of the industry and we are excited to continue innovating alongside the community. With Genopets, we not only financially incentivize players to stay fit — we make it fun and socially rewarding to do so.”
Genopets announced that they have raised over $8 million from some of the biggest names in crypto and gaming with a move-to-earn mobile game.
This round of seed funding was co-led by Konvoy Ventures (investors and board observer at Axie Infinity) and Pantera Capital, with participation from Old Fashion Research, Alameda Research, Solana Capital, Xoogler Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Collab+Currency, Spartan Group, Animoca Brands, OliveX, Hyper, CMT Digital, DeFi Alliance, Eniac Ventures, CMS Holdings, GBV Capital, Yield Guild Games, Merit Circle, Bitscale Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Evernew Capital, Fundamental Labs, Valhalla Capital, Cinchblock, Raptor Capital, and Magnus Capital.
Genopets also went on to acknowledge several notable angel investors from the crypto, gaming, and fitness world, including Prabhakar Reddy (Co-Founder, FalconX), Richard Ma (CEO, Quantstamp), Kevin Lin (Co-Founder, Twitch), John Robinson (President & COO, 100 Thieves), Brian Corrigan (VP and Head of Americas, PUBG Corporation), Keisuke Honda (Professional Japanese footballer) and Melanie Strong, a 19-year veteran executive of Nike.
“Genopets is a liquid digital asset representation of a gamer’s physical activity in the real world. It sits at the intersection of gaming, play-to-earn, and physical activity. This platform connects a gamer’s real-world steps with their progression, customization, and value creation in the Genopet universe. This company’s edge in the gaming market is augmented by an incredible leadership team in Albert, Ben, and Jay. We’re thrilled to invest in and support the team at Genopets for this journey as they build upon play-to-earn with the addition of Move-to-Earn. Great things ahead.” — Josh Chapman, Managing Partner at Konvoy Ventures.
“Genopets is one of those revolutionary projects that binds people’s everyday lives to blockchain through gaming and NFTs. It’s going to change the way people own and use their health data. As the leading advisor and investor, Old Fashion Research is privileged to be with Genopets from the very beginning.” — Wayne Fu, Managing Partner at OFR, former Head of CorpDev at Binance.
To sum it up, as a free player, you will always have the opportunity to earn by eventually selling your beloved Genopet. However, if you decide you don’t want to part with your digital spirit animal, you can buy a Habitat NFT, making you a “paid player.” Paid players earn $KI token for their daily active use and maintenance of their Habitat. As a paid player, you can also generate and craft in-game NFTs, which you can then sell on the open marketplace or use to augment and enhance your Genopet. (Click here to read more about the difference between “free” and “paid” players.)
“Our Move-to-Earn model intertwines the best parts of move-to-play mechanics proven by the Nintendo Wii, Pokemon Go, and VR, with free-to-play mobile gaming and blockchain’s play-to-earn incentives.”