Vietnam blockchain gaming studio nets $6.8m in seed round

Sipher, a Vietnam-based blockchain gaming studio, has raised US$6.8 million in a seed round led by Arrington Capital, Hashed, and Konvoy Ventures.

The blockchain gaming startup’s seed round is the second-largest for a Vietnamese blockchain gaming startup after that of Sky Mavis, the developer of Axie Infinity, which has become a global sensation.

The round also saw participation from Defiance Capital, Signum Capital, Dragonfly Capital, and CMT Digital, among others.

Photo credit: Sipher

A few angel investors, including Kabam co-founder Holly Liu, Crunchyroll co-founder Kun Gao, and Nansen co-founder Alex Svanevik, also participated in the round.

Sipher was founded earlier this year by Nguyen Trung Tin, who is also the CEO of property firm Trung Thuy Group and founder of co-working space provider Dreamplex.

Sipher aims to unify blockchain tech for artwork, storytelling, and multiplayer gaming with decentralized financial tech. The company is also developing an ecosystem where users can play for entertainment and get rewarded for time spent in the game.

In a statement, Sipher said its priority was to launch a playable minimum viable product of the first gaming experience in the World of Sipheria, the company’s version of a virtual universe. The firm is also set to release a collection named Sipherian Flash, a set of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which includes 10,000 limited playable characters. 

See also: Axie Infinity faces big test as player earnings fall

Like Axie Infinity, Sipher wants to bring “economic freedom to gamers” and give its community ownership of in-game assets.

“We believe that metaverse gaming will unlock a new economic frontier where users can reap the rewards of their time and creativity,” said Michael Arrington, partner and founder of Arrington Capital. “We believe that Sipher is positioned to capture and captivate users across all regions of the world.” Arrington also founded TechCrunch in 2005 and his portfolio included notable companies such as Uber, Airbnb and Pinterest. 

Sipher added that its Discord community now has more than 60,000 members. It said Sipherian Surge, its first playable NFT, was sold out in less than 15 minutes of being available and that the asset can currently be accessed through trading and secondary purchase on NFT marketplace OpenSea.