<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mythical Games, a game development company based in Los Angeles, </span><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211104005468/en/Mythical-Games-Raises-150M-in-Series-C-Funding-Led-by-Andreessen-Horowitz-at-1.25B-Valuation"><span style="font-weight: 400;">announced</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that it raised $150 million in Series C funding, bringing the startup’s total valuation to $1.25 billion. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The American venture firm </span><a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/109408/a16z-third-crypto-venture-fund"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Andressen Horowitz</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> led the funding round, which also saw participation from D1 Capital, RedBird Capital, The Raine Group, Binance, FTX, 32 Equity, the venture arm of the National Football League, The Chainsmokers’s Mantis and others. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Prior investors in Mythical Games, including Galaxy Interactive, WestCap, 01 Advisors, Javelin Partners, Struck Capital, Alumni Ventures and Signum Growth Investments, also participated in Mythical Gaming's most recent funding round. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In all, Mythical Games raised more than $270 million in funding, earning the majority of it — $225 million — in 2021, according to a company release. The startup intends to use the funding to continue expanding its team and building NFT-based, play-to-earn games. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Mythical Games played a formative role in the development of play-to-earn concepts, and has clearly established itself as a top player among gaming technology studios, attracting mainstream players with its distinctive design and quality gameplay," said Arianna Simpson, general partner with Andreessen Horowitz, in a statement. "We're thrilled to partner with them to bring NFT gaming to an even larger stage."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Interest in NFT-based games occurred during the summer of 2021 following the success of the NFT-based play-to-earn game </span><a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/119521/axie-infinity-nft-series-b-funding-a16z"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Axie Infinity</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which The Block’s data shows earned $215 million in weekly trade volume at its peak in August. </span></p> <p><iframe frameborder="0" height="420" src="https://embed.theblockcrypto.com/data/nft-non-fungible-tokens/gaming/gaming-nft-trade-volume/embed" title="Gaming NFT Trade Volume" width="100%"></iframe></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As a result, venture firms poured more attention to companies with similar projects, such as the Solana-based play-to-earn game </span><a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/121621/solana-based-play-to-earn-nft-game-monkeyball-funding"><span style="font-weight: 400;">MonkeyBall</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the NFT gaming platform </span><a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/122936/crypto-sandbox-93-million-softbank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sandbox</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and the blockchain-based virtual property game </span><a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/122981/digital-property-trading-platform-upland-scores-18-million-series-a-led-by-animoca"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Upland</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p>