CryptoKitties parent firm bags $11m, partners Taiwan’s AppWorks

Canada-based Dapper Labs, the company behind viral blockchain game CryptoKitties, has announced its US$11 million fundraise and the release of Flow, a new blockchain for decentralized apps in gaming, culture, and entertainment.

Photo credit: CryptoKitties

The investment was led by Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto fund, with participation from new investors Accomplice, AppWorks, Autonomous Partners, and Warner Music Group.

A slew of angel and existing investors such as Union Square Ventures, Venrock, Digital Currency Group, Animoca Brands, SV Angel, Version One, and CoinFund also participated in the round.

With the funding, Dapper Labs will work with AppWorks, a Taiwanese blockhain accelerator, to help bring blockchain technology to the gaming and music landscape in Asia and engage in AppWorks’ developer community, according to a statement.

AppWorks claims that the startups it supported together have raised US$870 million and are valued at US$3.97 billion. It currently has 48 companies in its portfolio, including startups like KKday, ShopBack, and Carousell.

“For consumers to embrace crypto, we need to stop approaching it as an emerging technology and instead give people products they can use every day,” said Roham Gharegozlou, CEO of Dapper Labs.

According to him, Flow is built to support ecosystems of apps and games in the decentralized world. “Bitcoin and Ethereum show how crypto can make the world of finance more open and transparent; Flow will do the same for consumers of entertainment and culture,” he said.

The platform, which will be launched in 2020, will support artists or bands using crypto tokens, games that reward players, and platforms for sports fans.

“The architecture for Flow was inspired by modern CPUs,” Dieter Shirley, chief technology officer of Dapper Labs, said. “Flow pipelines the work of running a blockchain across four different node types instead of following the typical approach of requiring all nodes or miners to do everything.”

Such a method allows the blockchain to maintain decentralization and keep the network trustworthy while achieving the type of scale required for serving billions of users, Shirley explained.

The company said it’s set to begin its first partnerships for Flow with Ubisoft and Warner Music.

Besides CryptoKitties, Dapper Labs also owns Dapper, a publicly available smart wallet. Its upcoming projects include a blockchain-based battle royale game and NBA Top Shot, in partnership with NBA.