Widely mocked NFT project Pixelmon raises $8 million in seed round including Animoca Brands

Quick Take

  • Since its underwhelming 2022 debut, Pixelmon has been working to rebrand its decentralized game franchise with a new team under LiquidX Studios.

Pixelmon's art reveal for its $70 million NFT sale in February 2022 was described as terrible, horrible and hilariously ugly. Since then the project has been trying to turn its fortunes around.

By September 2022, the project had replaced the artwork, brought in a new leadership team and outlined a new roadmap. Then in October 2023, it launched casual side-scroller game, Kevin the Adventurer, something that boosted the NFT project's floor price — the lowest price on offer — from 0.35 ETH ($800) to a peak of 1.85 ETH ($4,200).

Its latest move is an $8 million seed investment from prominent investors including Animoca Brands, Delphi Ventures and Foresight Ventures (the parent company of The Block).

The funding round also attracted participation from investors including Amber Group, 9GAG Founder Ray Chan and Immutable Co-Founder Robbie Ferguson, according to a press release.

What is Pixelmon?

Pixelmon is a decentralized gaming brand consisting of mythical creatures of the same name. It is owned by Pixelation Labs, a subsidiary under Singapore-based Web3 venture capital LiquidX Studios.

Giulio Xiloyannis, chief executive officer of Pixelmon and co-founder of LiquidX, told The Block that Pixelmon is currently developing four games, including PixelPals, which is slated for release this month. All four games will feature the company’s representative Pixelmon monsters, he added.

With its intellectual property fractionalization system, Mon Protocol, Pixelmon said it distributes the ownership of a trademarkable game character across NFT holders, giving them rights to the IP that grows alongside the community and game ecosystem. 

"The decentralized IP system that Mon Protocol is establishing is significant because it will empower creative communities and IP core fan bases to participate actively in the long-term success of a consumer franchise, taking full advantage of true digital ownership and network effects,” Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, said in the statement.

Pixelmon said that the team plans to use the newly raised capital to boost development across its portfolio of casual and mid-core games.


Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Danny Park is an East Asia reporter at The Block writing on topics including Web3 developments and crypto regulations in the region. He was formerly a reporter at Forkast.News, where he actively covered the downfall of Terra-Luna and FTX. Based in Seoul, Danny has previously produced written and video content for media companies in Korea, Hong Kong and China. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism and Business Marketing from the University of Hong Kong.

Editor

To contact the editors of this story:
Timmy Shen at
[email protected]
Adam James at
[email protected]