San Francisco-based crypto gaming startup Argus Labs has scored $10 million in seed funding in a round led by Haun Ventures that backed web3 startup Thirdwave and NFT marketplace Zora Labs, with participation from Robot Ventures, Anagram, Dispersion Capital, and Alchemy.
The investment round also included participation from angel investors – Gitcoin co-founder Scott Moore, Sandbox VR co-founder Siqi Chen, and Osmosis co-founder Sunny Aggarwal in the mix, to name a few.
The investment comes at a time when the web3 industry is experiencing a shortage in funding amid the bear market. Argus Labs plans to use the fresh funding to expand its development team and build out its studio and tooling infrastructure.
Scott Sunarto, Argus Labs founder said, “Computer games in the 1980s and ‘90s were building their engine to build their own game … I think we’re at a very similar stage in crypto gaming right now, where if you really want to build great applications for great content, you really need to have this ability to push the envelope yourself,”
“Current blockchains are not designed to run games,” lead investor Haun Ventures said in a statement. “Scott and team, with our support, envision the World Engine as an open source, connected layer-2 of sharded blockchains that will serve as the backbone for the ‘Internet of Games.'”
Redefines future of online games
In addition to this investment round, Argus Labs, founded by Scott Sunarto, also announced the launch of its blockchain gaming software developer kit, the World Engine. This flagship product will enable developers to build customised web3 gaming ecosystems. World Engine can support user-generated content through the blockchain and allow even more complex games like massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) to exist fully on-chain.
Prior to this, Argus Labs’ founder co-created Dark Forest, a crypto game launched in 2020. This game uses ZKPs and it is believed that many more game elements can be on-chain than the average person might think. Scott is doubling down on the new ways that crypto elements can be used in video games.
