Coins.ph co-founder co-launches NFT rental platform with $2m in seed funding

Philippines-based Playdex, a play-to-earn rental marketplace, has raised US$2 million in a seed funding round with PDAX, OrangeDAO, and investor Wing Vasiksiri participating.

Photo credit: A. Solano / Shutterstock

The marketplace enables players and guilds to rent gaming assets from NFT holders, connecting all of the stakeholders in the P2E sphere through one streamlined platform.

“On Playdex, gamers can play and earn immediately without having to buy expensive NFTs. Guilds can now focus on training and scaling their communities no longer burdened by the hefty financial costs of gaming assets,” said co-founder Ron Hose, the former CEO of Philippine fintech firm Coins.ph.

Aside from Hose, other co-founders of Playdex include ex-Xendit engineer Daniel Laborada, Yield Guild Games’ Bernadette Misa, Coins.ph’s Thea Santos and Eduard Iskandarov, and PayMongo’s Luis Sia and Wesley Dela Cruz. Yield Guild Games COO Colin Goltra has also been recruited for an active advisory role.

The co-founders chose the Philippines as Playdex’s base as 40% of the players of P2E major Axie Infinity reside in the country. It also has 1 million daily active blockchain game players, said the company.

The blockchain gaming industry is gaining widespread interest, with Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands being valued at US$5 billion and Fortnite developer Epic Games receiving US$2 billion to build a metaverse. According to Playdex, the market is projected to be worth US$50 billion by 2025.

The fresh funds will be used to expand Playdex’s community, develop its product, and introduce more games to the platform.

See also: How an Animoca game lost 70% of its users after adding KYC

Other investors in the round include:

• Buko Ventures
• Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen
• Magic co-founder Aaron Kemmer
• CSVE Ventures managing partner Nina Teng
• Lazada Philippines chairman Ray Alimurung
• XA Network extended leadership team member Yaw Yeo