The Block: NFT gaming startup Mythical Games raises $150 million in funding

Mythical Games, a game development company based in Los Angeles, announced that it raised $150 million in Series C funding, bringing the startup’s total valuation to $1.25 billion.

The American venture firm Andressen Horowitz 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.

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.

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.

"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."

Interest in NFT-based games occurred during the summer of 2021 following the success of the NFT-based play-to-earn game Axie Infinity , which The Block’s data shows earned $215 million in weekly trade volume at its peak in August.

As a result, venture firms poured more attention to companies with similar projects, such as the Solana-based play-to-earn game MonkeyBall , the NFT gaming platform Sandbox and the blockchain-based virtual property game Upland .