Game maker The Mirror raises $2.3 million in Founders Fund-led round

Quick Take

  • The Mirror raised $2.3 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by Founders Fund, a Silicon Valley firm that funded Facebook, Airbnb, Stripe and others.
  • Based in Miami, the startup streamlines the creation of 3D multiplayer games set in virtual worlds. 

The Mirror, a game development platform that lets indie developers build virtual worlds, raised $2.3 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by Founders Found, the Silicon Valley venture fund that has backed Stripe, Airbnb and Lyft.

Founded in Miami by CEO Jared McCluskey, the startup currently has a team of 15 people. Additional participants in the round included Konvoy Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Florida Funders and Palm Tree Crew.

The Mirror expedites the creation of 3D multiplayer games set in virtual worlds and includes tools for real-time collaboration, which is one of the characteristics necessary for occupation in the metaverse, according to Matt Ball, the author of a recent book on the subject. The startup says that it will serve developers of all skill levels, including those with no coding experience. 

"The Mirror has a fundamentally different approach of using open-source software to bring real-time collaborative game development to a fragmented industry,” Founders Fund partner Keith Rabois said in a statement. 

Amid bear market woes, venture funding in NFT and web3 gaming projects jumped 66% in 2022 to become one of the bright spots in an industry facing declining crypto prices and layoffs. Advancements in technology, infrastructure and throughputs on first- and second-level chains have increased the chances for successful blockchain-based games.


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About Author

MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020 — joining just before bitcoin surpassed $20,000 for the first time. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering any and all crypto news but with a penchant toward NFT, metaverse, web3 gaming, funding, crime, hack and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.

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