Flipkart, ex-Coinbase execs join Indian NFT startup’s $12m round

Lysto, an India- and Singapore-based NFT startup, has raised over US$12 million in a pre-series A round from Square Peg, Tiger Global, and Better Capital. The round also saw participation from angel investors such as Flipkart founder Binny Bansal and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan.

Lysto founder and CEO Sadiq Ahamed / Photo credit: Lysto

The fundraise follows Lysto’s US$3 million seed round in November last year. The company said that since then, it has grown its team to 25 members.

Founded in 2021 by its CEO Sadiq Ahamed, Lysto specializes in building tools and infrastructure for blockchain gaming.

The company will use the fresh capital to double down on its flagship product called Proof of Play Protocol (PoPP), which was introduced earlier this year. PoPP is an on-chain digital credential that aims to standardize gamer identity and reputation across the industry.

These credentials can be issued by game developers and tournament organizers, or they can be auto-generated by gamers. Depending on the scenario, they can act as trophies, social badges, or game-tester tokens. Players can also showcase their credentials to other users via email and airdrops, among other tools.

“We envision a world where billions of such on-chain attestations across games and tournaments can form the basic building block of gamers’ profiles,” Ahamed said in a statement.

Other investors in this round include:

• Beenext
• Hashed
• Pantera Capital partner Paul Veradittakit
• CoinGecko co-founders Bobby Ong and TM Lee

See also: Inside the tsunami of NFTs in India

Update (Aug. 10, 6:20 p.m. SGT): This article was updated to include a revised description of Lysto’s businesses.