Binance Labs, the venture capital arm and innovation incubator of Binance, has announced it led the seed round for Ultiverse to build a Web3-social gaming metaverse on the BNB Chain. Funds will develop the product, attract top talent and further grow the community.
Ultiverse connects Web3 with a virtual reality (VR) compatible world home to the first triple-A blockchain game. As a first-of-its-kind MetaFi, Ultiverse’s tokenomics encourage mutually beneficial relationships between ecosystems, where players can benefit from building the community.
The world of Ultiverse will let players import nonfungible tokens (NFTs) from multichain for the virtual world, and the game supports NFTs and land customization. Players’ actions will impact non-player-characters, bringing an immersive gaming experience.
Frank Ma, CEO of Ultiverse, said, “We’re excited to grow Ultiverse along with Binance Labs and the BNB Chain ecosystem as we share a common vision of the Web3 gaming metaverse. I am confident that Ultiverse will be the proof-of-concept that both Web3 [proponents] and gamers have been clamoring for. We’ll do this by providing intricate virtual worlds and, more importantly, ways in which these worlds can be interacted with and affected in a truly collaborative way.”
Nicole Zhang, investment director of Binance Labs, said, “MetaFi is always a sector that we are active in. We believe Ultiverse can bridge between metaverse gaming and traditional gaming and bring more innovations to the community and industry.”
“Blockchain games are still in their infancy. The first generation of GameFi has been predominantly simple card-based games, and triple-A games with high quality are in great need. Thus, BSC is more than pleased to support projects such as Ultiverse to unlock the full potential of GameFi,” said Gwendolyn Regina, investment director of BNB Chain Fund.
Ultiverse will launch its first internal game — a 3D play-to-earn massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) with an ecosystem for players to cooperate or compete.
Ultiverse’s seed round is co-led by DeFiance Capital and other investors — including Three Arrows Capital and SkyVision Capital — that helped Ultiverse raise $4.5 million at a $50-million valuation.
“DeFiance Capital is extremely thrilled to back the Ultiverse team, who have a stellar track record building top-tier games on Unity and Unreal Engine 4,” said Arthur Cheong, founding partner of DeFiance Capital. “We are also particularly excited for their first game, Endless Loop — a triple-A MMORPG and genre DeFiance is particularly bullish on due to its potential to create an immersive metaverse.”
“By combining next-generation visuals, incredible in-game dynamics and collaborative gameplay between players in an ever-evolving virtual world, the MetaFi approach of Ultiverse makes it well-positioned to exceed the perceived limitations of what we thought was possible with gaming in the metaverse,” said Kyle Davies, co-founder of Three Arrows Capital.
About Ultiverse
Ultiverse is building the social gaming metaverse that connects Web3 with an immersive VR-compatible virtual world. It is creating a first-of-its-kind MetaFi by letting players build mutually beneficial relationships.
About Binance Labs
Binance Labs identifies, invests and empowers viable blockchain entrepreneurs, startups and communities, financing industry projects that grow the larger blockchain ecosystem. It is committed to supporting fast-executing teams that positively impact the crypto space.
About BNB Chain
BNB Chain is a community-driven, decentralized and censorship-resistant blockchain powered by BNB. It consists of BNB Beacon Chain and BNB Smart Chain and is Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible, facilitating a multichain ecosystem. BNB Chain strives to build infrastructure to power the world’s parallel virtual ecosystem through MetaFi. For more information, visit BNBChain.World.
