Animoca Brands Leads $18M Series A for Play-to-Earn Upstart Avocado Guild
The guild wants to empower members to participate in virtual worlds and Web 3.
Nov 24, 2021 at 10:01 a.m. UTCUpdated May 11, 2023 at 5:47 p.m. UTC
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Play-to-earn (P2E) company Avocado Guild raised $18 million in a Series A funding round led by Animoca Brands, bringing its valuation to $200 million, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. QCP Soteria Node also led the round.
- Three Arrows Capital, Solana Ventures, Polygon Studios, Hashed, Binance Smart Chain’s $1 Billion Growth Fund and executives of GoldenTree Asset Management also participated in the investment.
- Gaming guilds like Avocado cluster Platform to Employment (P2E) gamers who are able to earn crypto income from titles such as Axie Infinity.
- Guilds often have revenue-sharing agreements and give players initial loans in non-fungible tokens (NFT) to bring them into the game.
- In an interview with CoinDesk, Avocado co-founder and CEO Brendan Wong described the guild as a “metaverse of metaverses,” because it enables players to participate in multiple virtual worlds.
- “Avocadians,” as users call themselves, not only learn how to earn supplementary income on P2E games, but are trained in how to become Web 3 users, take advantage of opportunities in decentralized finance (DeFi) and become part of a community, Wong told CoinDesk.
- The guild will spread its operations to other P2E games using the funds and purchase NFTs and land in virtual worlds, Wong said.
- The guild will also boost its scholarship program to over 10,000 members, Wong added. Avocado Guild currently counts 7,000 members, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia.
- Avocado scholars are educated about how to play games like Axie Infinity and are lent NFT assets that the guild purchases from gaming companies, after agreeing to a 50-50 revenue split, according to a company representative. Scholars are free to stop the program at any time, but most of them choose to stay in the community even after their scholarship has ended, Wong said.
- Axie Infinity has seen its popularity skyrocket, particularly in the Philippines, reportedly leading to a $3 billion valuation for its developer Sky Mavis.
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UPDATE (Nov. 24, 05:25 UTC): Adds QCP Soteria Node in lead.
UPDATE (Nov. 24, 10:00 UTC): Clarifies round participants in first bullet and scholarship program.
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Eliza Gkritsi is a CoinDesk contributor focused on the intersection of crypto and AI.