Dapper Labs, the company behind the world’s first and most successful consumer blockchain product, CryptoKitties, has raised $15M in financing led by Venrock, the official venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family, with participation from GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Samsung NEXT. The round was also supported by existing Dapper Labs investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Digital Currency Group, and others. To date, Dapper Labs has received a total of $27.85 M in investments.
The new funding will help Dapper Labs expand its services on a local and global scale. According to а press release, the company plans on establishing a US subsidiary led by former executives from Unity and Disney, with additional hires for the Canada office from Ubisoft, EA Sports, Amazon, ESPN, Hasbro, and Zynga. The investment will also accelerate the build-out of the infrastructure necessary to attract mainstream consumers to the blockchain.
Canada-based Dapper Labs launched CryptoKitties in November 2017. The Ethereum-based game is one of the leading decentralized applications (DApps) and is reportedly the most used blockchain app worldwide outside the field of cryptocurrency trading. There have been more than 3.2 million transactions worth tens of millions of dollars recorded on the platform up to date. The game differentiated itself by not using the ICO-model for funding, opting instead to launch a product that showcased an application for blockchain beyond cryptocurrencies. By focusing on games and entertainment, CryptoKitties brought mainstream users completely new to blockchain into the industry.
Dapper Labs, Developer of Blockchain App CryptoKitties, Receives $15 M in Financing Round Led by Rockefeller Venture Arm
