Round two for Sky Mavis and Ula founder

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In focus

• Sky Mavis bounces back after Axie’s fall
• Ula co-founder’s AI-powered comeback
• New contenders power India’s ecommerce sector

Hello,

Remember the Axie Infinity craze? For a moment, it felt like that was the future of gaming. Its developer Sky Mavis was on its way to generate US$1.3 billion in revenue in 2021.

Then came the crypto winter and the devastating hack of the company’s game-focused blockchain Ronin. With this one-two punch, it would be easy to write off Sky Mavis.

But quietly, the developer has staged a comeback. And a look at the Singapore-based company’s financials reveals that Sky Mavis isn’t doing so through a new hit title.

In today’s Top Story, we unpack the company’s surprising second act. The foundation of this new era is Ronin, which now hosts a growing roster of games from other studios, its own decentralized exchange, and a bustling marketplace.

Is Sky Mavis building the definitive platform for the next generation of Web3 gaming, or is this a temporary bridge while it searches for its next blockbuster game? The company hopes for it to be the former, but it’s not shying away from launching new titles.

It recently introduced a new massively multiplayer online game called Atia’s Legacy, based in the same universe as Axie. Only time will tell if it will get the same hype as its predecessor. Trung Nguyen, co-founder and CEO at Sky Mavis, tells Tech in Asia it has already garnered millions of preregistrations.

Keeping to the theme of second winds, Nipun Mehra, co-founder and former CEO of now defunct startup Ula, has launched Neoflo.ai. It’s an AI-powered platform that handles back-office operations for businesses.

In his story, my colleague Jofie dives into the new company’s ambitions within the AI space, with a US$10 million seed round that it raised from Lightspeed India, Peak XV, and Alter Global.

Miguel Cordon, journalist

Top Stories

1️⃣ Sky Mavis regains its footing as crypto winds turn

Image credit: SkyMavis

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