Set to pioneer investment in Web3 gaming with early stage investments already made in category winners

SYDNEY, March 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Immutable, and King River Capital, assisted by Polygon Labs, have combined forces to launch the Inevitable Games Fund (‘IGF’ or ‘the Fund’). As a first of its kind ecosystem-agnostic fund, IGF leverages the deep insights and resources of web3 gaming giants Immutable and Polygon Labs to identify high growth opportunities for investors.

The Fund’s investment process will be led by King River Capital in collaboration with Immutable and Polygon Labs providing key sourcing and web3 gaming expertise.

IGF is testament to the partners’ commitment to fostering innovation and growth across the web3 gaming sector. The Fund, which is privately offered and only open for investment by certain types of professional and sophisticated investors will have a final cap on fund size of US$100 million. It has already secured an anchor commitment from Alpha Wave Ventures (backed by Alpha Wave Global and the Abu Dhabi Royal Group’s Chimera Capital), as well as commitments from Merit Circle, a leader in the web3 gaming space, several family offices such as Mike Arrington, Co-Founder of CrunchFund and Arrington Capital; Steve Kokinos, of Sonic Boom Ventures and former CEO of Algorand; James and Robbie Ferguson, Co-Founders of Immutable; and Sandeep Nailwal, Co-Founder of Polygon Labs.

The Fund has already identified a strong pipeline of investment opportunities and has warehoused seven early stage investments including:

• Pixelmon, the world’s first truly decentralised Web3 gaming IP.
• Metalcore, an open-world combined arms game where players can engage in massive player-versus-player (PVP) encounters and face AI-enhanced enemies. Players can fight on foot and pilot a wide array of combat vehicles and giant mechs in massive battlefields where frenzied players fight for their factions in territorial conquest.
• Guild of Guardians, one of the most anticipated Immutable platform games this year having attracted 1M+ pre registrations ahead of release in Q2 2024.
• My Pet Hooligan, a Hollywood style animation meets team deathmatch gameplay.

The combination of King River Capital’s expertise in venture and digital asset investing, together with Immutable and Polygon Labs’ web3 gaming deal flow and digital assets expertise, uniquely positions the Fund to identify best in class investment opportunities across the multi-hundred billion dollar global video game industry.

King River will manage the deployment of IGF capital across premier game studios, web3 infrastructure, and immersive gaming experiences, that are considered to redefine the digital entertainment landscape, regardless of the platform.

Messari, a leading provider of crypto market intelligence, recently estimated^[1] the combined marketshare of Immutable and Polygon to be ~70% of total blockchain gaming development, following a significant growth year for the entire industry.

Zeb Rice, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at King River Capital, said: "Spending on video games exceeds the global revenue from movies, streaming TV and the music industry, combined, and it is ripe for a huge technology shift.

"Just as mobile gaming went from virtually zero in 2008 to 79% of gamers playing mobile today,^[2] we believe a similar shift has only just begun to web3 technology. The Fund provides investors with an opportunity to gain unique access to the best web3 gaming projects globally and is designed to benefit from this multi-hundred billion dollar shift in spending to this disruptive new technology."

Commenting on the launch of the Fund, Robbie Ferguson, President and Co-Founder of Immutable, said: "We are excited to be launching this pioneering fund in partnership with King River Capital and assisted by Polygon Labs. Our combined expertise, global relationships, and industry reach ideally position the Fund to identify and invest in the best web3 gaming and gaming infrastructure opportunities globally."

Since 2018 the sector has attracted approximately $19 billion in investments^[3]. In 2023, blockchain gaming related rounds reached $1.7B^[4].  A significant part of that has flowed to the 270+ blockchain games in development on Immutable.

A 2023 report by PwC estimated that total gaming revenue globally will rise from US$227 billion in 2023 to US$312 billion in 2027, representing a 7.9% CAGR.  This will likely be driven by a combination of factors, including the benefits of decentralisation and ownership features, play-and-earn models, and the integration with emerging technologies.

ENDS

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About King River Capital

King River Capital invests early to mid-stage high-growth technology businesses solving critical problems within large markets. Since its founding in 2019, King River has raised four funds and invested in 32 companies across North America and Australia, including through its King River Digital Asset Fund that was launched in February 2022.

King River investments in crypto and web3, include Immutable; Discord (the defacto locus for crypto conversations, DeFi protocols, DAO governance, and NFT communities); Splash (one of the world’s most popular music game and metaverse participant), Paystand (B2B payments company that utilises the Ethereum blockchain to build zero-fee payments infrastructure), Consensys, LayerZero, and Aztec.

The King River Capital team comprises 16 professionals across Sydney, Denver and New York.

About Immutable and Polygon Labs

Immutable and Polygon Labs have both stood at the forefront of web3 gaming advances since the industry’s infancy. They each boast deep knowledge of the industry, complex product suites, and gaming-specific technologies, most notably the Immutable zkEVM chain powered by Polygon. Their wealth of experience allows the organizations to be at the center of a transformation bringing digital ownership to millions around the world through gaming.

The Immutable gaming platform makes it easy for game studios and independent developers to safely and confidently build and launch successful web3 games. The product suite includes pre-built end-to-end solutions, optimized for usability, that help developers get to market faster without sacrificing security or player experience. Builders get personalized web3 guidance, live support for their communities, and access to the largest ecosystem in gaming.

Immutable is the first gaming platform to deliver a zero-knowledge (zk) scaling solution and provides developers with multiple zk-based scaling options, including Immutable X, a rollup based on StarkWare technology, and Immutable zkEVM, powered by Polygon. Immutable has raised over $300M USD from leading global investors including Temasek, Bitkraft, Tencent, King River Capital, and more and won 270+ well-funded games onto its platform.

 

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SOURCE King River Capital

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