Singapore-based game-fi blockchain startup Ethlas scores US$2.7m seed funding

ETHLAS scored a US$2.7 million seed funding round with venture capital investors such as Sequoia Capital India, Venturra Capital, Hustle Fund and executives from Grab.

The blockchain game finance (game-fi) startup was founded by Gennady Medvinsky and Elston Sam, and offers users the opportunity to earn cryptocurrency while playing games. Ethlas' games use popular gameplay mechanics such as Candy Crush or like Tetris. The funding secured will be used to hire talent.

Like another popular crypto game, Axie Infinity, Ethlas has minted non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Komos, modelled after Komodo dragons for players to unlock new features and treasures in the game. The startup claims that its onboarding process is less complicated than its competitors, merely needing a crypto currency wallet to log in and start playing.

There's also a guest mode in the works for users to play and earn before logging in with a crypto wallet. Users are also incentivised by prizes like exclusive NFTs for completing quests or winning prize pots in tournaments.

"Unlike Axie Infinity, which requires the user to go through a complicated onboarding process and requires players to pay an upfront fee to purchase their Axie characters to enter their game ecosystem, Ethlas' road map first focused on casual games that are easy to understand and that users are familiar with," said Sam, co-founder, Ethlas.

Ethlas has chalked up 100,000 crypto-wallet users across the world and played about 3 million games in the 3 months since inception. Over 140,000 wallets were registered on the platform within the first 14 weeks according to the startup, claiming it takes 10 seconds or less between users landing on the site and playing their first game.

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"Consumer gaming platforms can amass millions of engaged players - combine that with asset ownership through NFTs and a crypto rewards layer, the network incentives fall back into the hands of the players. This is an immensely powerful flywheel," said Aakash Kapoor, vice-president, Sequoia India.

The game-fi startup is also looking to aggregate games by appealing to game studios to list their games on the platform. Ethlas claims to be speaking to a few game studios in integrating their games on the game-fi platform.

"We have set aside an ecosystem fund to kick-start early game integrations, but also lead towards a revenue share model where studios will have a stake in the game ecosystem," said Sam.

Still there are issues with game-fi startups potentially exploiting low wage workers, as barriers to entry for players to play increase as seen in Axie Infinity. Ethlas claims to have plans to work with regulators and educate consumers as the nascent game-fi ecosystem continues to grow.

"We feel a responsibility to be part of the solution by having open conversations and work with organisations to create an environment which steers innovation in the right light," said Sam.