Recently, the venture capital institution Griffin Gaming Partners announced that its second fund (Fund II) has been oversubscribed by US$750 million. Funders include sovereign wealth funds, university endowment funds, family offices and strategic partners in the gaming industry. Next, the fund will invest in game content, software infrastructure and social platforms, as well as game-related Web3 companies, participating in investment from seed rounds to growth rounds.
With the launch of "Fund II", Griffin Gaming Partners has become the largest gaming fund at present. Games One data shows that Griffin's AUM (asset management scale) has reached 1.03 billion US dollars.
Not only in the field of traditional games, but also in the field of blockchain games and encryption, Griffin Gaming Partners has long been involved. On December 15 last year, Griffin, together with Solana Ventures and blockchain game platform Forte, launched a US$150 million chain game fund to support blockchain game startups.
Philip Sanderson and Nick Tuosto, co-founders of Griffin, even said that so far the agency has made more than a dozen Web3-related investments, accounting for more than half of the deployed capital. So what kind of layout and background has Griffin Gaming Partners made in the field of chain games and encryption? Next, Rhythm BlockBeats will introduce this game venture capital institution.
Largest gaming fund at the moment
Griffin Gaming Partners is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, USA. It is a venture capital institution focusing on the game field. It invests in game content, software infrastructure and social platforms. After entering the encryption field, it also includes game-related The Web3 company.
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Philip Sanderson, Peter Levin, and Nick Tuosto
Previously, Peter Levin, one of the co-founders, had been investing in the film and television industry and the game field. He was the CEO of Nerdist Industries, a subsidiary of Legendary Pictures, and served as the interactive director of Lionsgate Films (the seventh largest film and television agency in North America). President of Corporate, Gaming and Digital Strategy, and Chairman of esports organization Immortals Gaming Club, which currently owns Clash Royale and League of Legends teams.
Philip Sanderson has worked in the game production company Telltale Games and Discord for more than ten years in the investment business, which also led Griffin Gaming Partners to invest in Discord. Nick Tuosto, a former director of LionTree, a New York investment bank, served as an advisor in Tencent's acquisition of Clash of Clans maker Supercell and FoxNext. Later, he brought years of investment experience in the Internet and digital media to the Griffin team.
At the beginning of its establishment, Griffin Gaming Partners launched a US$235 million fund to invest in game companies of all stages around the world, including start-up game studios, emerging game platforms and infrastructure companies, which were few in the market at the time. A large-scale game-specific fund.
Evan Van Zelfden, managing director of Games One, also said in an interview that game funds like Griffin were basically established in the past ten years, and they are making up for the fact that there were no venture capital funds specifically for games in the past. Sorry about the service provided by the company.
After its second fund was oversubscribed by US$750 million, Griffin Gaming Partners also quickly grew to become the largest gaming fund. Not long ago, according to the 2021 game investment data released by Invest Game, Griffin only ranked sixth among the top 15 VC Funds in the game field.
Entering the crypto space, expanding the gaming audience
At present, there are more than 3 billion gamers worldwide, and the game market is larger than the sum of movies, music and books. It is the fastest growing consumption trend in the world. With the global epidemic of the new crown epidemic, the game industry has also ushered in further development. NewZoo data shows that in 2021, the overall revenue of the game market is expected to reach 180.3 billion US dollars.
Advances in consumer behavior and technology are creating unprecedented opportunities for gaming. Phil Sanderson, co-founder of Griffin Gaming Partners, said that in the past few years, we have seen such extraordinary innovations in the gaming field. The explosive growth of blockchain games like Axie Infinity is attracting new players, so Griffin It will also continue to expand and diversify the game audience.
"This is a very incredible speed, which can only be achieved by Web3 and the decentralized trend paradigm," Sanderson once again lamented.
At the same time, the explosion of the game industry has attracted countless independent studios and game developers, and a lot of money is pouring into the intersection of encryption and games. These companies establish a direct connection with players on Twitter, Discord or their own communities, skipping middlemen such as app stores and speeding up the cycle of game operation.
However, Sanderson also said that although hundreds of companies are trying to make blockchain games, many game companies that are not “encrypted native” do not have much blockchain game production experience or cryptocurrency-related knowledge. In addition, the current blockchain games are also the most criticized by players in terms of playability. Axie Infinity has been criticized by many players.
Therefore, game developers not only need to base themselves on the community, but also figure out the real long-term effective game economic design in the Web3 field, and balance the part of having fun through games. And Griffin Gaming Partners will provide assistance to these developers, game platforms and players.
Crypto Field Portfolio
Gaming
Forte is a game blockchain platform, aiming to build a set of technologies, tools and services for developers, players and fans to remove any barriers for them to enter the blockchain field. The team has founded Kabam, GarageGames, Unity, etc. Deep understanding of crypto-economy and blockchain technology.
In May 2021, Forte announced that it has received US$185 million in Series A financing, led by Griffin Gaming Partners, with participation from a16z, Union Grove Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, etc.
IndiGG is a sub-DAO of Yield Guild Games (YGG), established in conjunction with Polygon to create a Play to Earn gaming guild in India.
On January 19, IndiGG announced that it had secured $6 million in funding from Sequoia India, Lightspeed, Griffin Gaming Partners, Variant Fund, Animoca Brands, and many others.
NEON, a Seattle-based independent video game studio and publisher founded by former HBO publishing head Mark Long, is developing a blockchain-based AAA first-person shooter called Shrapnel.
In November 2021, Neon raised $10.5 million, led by Griffin Gaming Partners, with participation from Polychain Capital and Forte, who will also provide technical support for the project.
Super Team Games (STG), a game development studio developing blockchain-based sports projects, has received early venture capital from Griffin Gaming Partners.
Supersocial is a game development studio that will create some of the most iconic games and experiences in the Metaverse.
In September 2021, Supersocial announced that it had received $5.2 million in seed round financing, led by Initial Capital, with participation from Griffin Gaming Partners, Warner Music Group, TIME Ventures, and LightShed Ventures.
Digital Insight Games is a blockchain game development studio that builds AAA-level RPGs. It was established in 2021 and has not yet officially launched. It has received early investment from Griffin Gaming Partners.
Metaverse
Everyrealm is an infrastructure connected to the metaverse, which can carry out investment, management and development of NFT, virtual real estate, metaverse platform, games, etc.
On February 11th, Everyrealm announced the completion of a US$60 million Series A round of financing, led by a16z and participated by Griffin Gaming Partners. Well-known institutions also participated in the investment, including Coinbase, Dragonfly Capital, Hashed, Lightspeed, Dapper Labs, Animoca Brands, etc.
DeHorizon is a metaverse ecosystem where players can create, socialize and play immersively with fellow players.
On February 18, DeHorizon announced the completion of a strategic round of financing led by Griffin Gaming Partners and Circle Ventures.
Chillchat is a Solana-based pixel art metaverse game platform, in which players can use the pixel editor, world system and other tools provided by the platform to create their own pixel identity for adventure.
On February 21, Chillchat raised a $1.85 million seed round of equity financing led by Solana Ventures. Participating institutions include: FTX Ventures, Animoca Brands, Griffin Gaming Partners, A&T Capital, YGGSEA, etc.
NFT
Palm is a cultural and creative NFT system built on Ethereum.
In December 2021, Palm completed a financing of US$27 million. Microsoft's M12 led the investment, and Griffin Gaming Partners, RRE, Sfermion, The LAO, Warner Brothers, etc. participated in the investment.
alethea.ai is a protocol for creating smart and interactive NFTs, and is the initiator of the iNFT (Intelligent NFT) standard.
In December 2021, alethea.ai cooperated with BeingAI and Binance NFT marketplace to launch NFT-based AI game characters, such as the robot Sophia. Previously, alethea.ai received early venture capital from Griffin Gaming Partners.
DeFi
Soma.Finance is a compliant multi-asset DEX and issuance platform, assets include general encrypted assets, NFT, tokenized stocks, tokenized securities (STO), etc.
On January 20, Soma.Finance received $6.5 million in financing led by Animoca Brands, with participation from Griffin Gaming Partners, GSR, Kenetic Capital and other institutions.
Social
Discord is an online text, voice, and video communication platform designed for building communities. Starting with games, Discord has quickly attracted users in various fields, especially encrypted users. From DeFi protocols to NFT projects to DAOs, more and more people have begun to try to BUIDL (build) this Web 3 portal.
Earlier, Discord received venture capital from Griffin Gaming Partners. Philip Sanderson, one of Griffin's three directors, was a former Discord executive.
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