Web3 video games startup GFAL (Games for a Living) has completed its $3.2 million seed round with Supercell among its key investors. The funding will go towards growing GFAL’s core team and accelerating the production of its web3 mobile game Elemental Raiders.
Venture capitalist Mitch Lasky also invested in the round, as did Sandsoft CEO David Fernandez, ESL’s former co-managing director Heinrich Zetlmayer, and others.
The seed funding adds $3.2 million to the $4.4 million raised in $GFAL token pre-sales last year.
Familiar faces
Elemental Raiders soft launched in March 2023 and has continued to grow since in its playerbase and overall performance. It marks the first part of GFAL’s web3 mission to explore new genres, new business models, and endless gaming experiences.
And GFAL’s leadership team has plenty of experience with video games to leverage into the web3 world - comprising veterans of Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Candy Crush maker King. Leadership also includes ex-employees of Netflix and Digital Chocolate, including the latter's founder and industry veteran Trip Hawkins - now GFAL CSO.
Digital Chocolate previously served as a place of employment for Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen and GFAL CEO Manel Sort.
"I’ve had the pleasure of working together with the team earlier in my career," Paananen noted. "We are excited to be part of their journey and see all the great things they’ll achieve."
"We are incredibly grateful for the confidence that Supercell, Mitch, and Heinrich have placed in GFAL," added Sort. "Working on a project alongside Trip and Ilkka, with whom I shared many thrilling and successful years at Digital Chocolate, is a dream come true, and I can’t wait to show the world the high calibre of games we are building."
Lasky commented: "I've been very impressed with the GFAL team's design-centred approach to Web3 gaming, and I am delighted to join my friends Trip Hawkins and Ilkka Paananen in this financing round to support Elemental Raiders and other titles."
The $GFAL token currently sits at a fully diluted valuation of $254.7 million.
Last year, Zynga, FunPlus and NetEase veterans received $8 million in an investment towards an NFT dinosaur game.
