Web3 gaming platform PlayZap raises seed funding led by KuCoin Labs

Sinagapore-based NFT-games platform PlayZap announced on Wednesday that it has raised seed funding led by Seychelles-based crypto exchange Kucoin’s investment unit Kucoin Labs. 

Founded in July 2021 by Abhishek Buchvani, PlayZap will offer users Web3-based play-to-earn games on its ‘ZapVerse’ for free, let them join multiplayer tournaments on ‘Z-Arena’, buy & trade in-game items on its NFT marketplace, and store & manage their digital assets using its ZPay Wallet which is built on the polygon network. 

The game maker said its mobile and desktop apps are on their way with more than 10 competitive games. It also said it’d mainly use the seed funding money to enhance its gaming platform as well as its mobile & desktop apps, expand game IPs, create new partnerships, widen its marketing reach and boost its impact in the GameFi industry. 

‘’We see a massive opportunity in bringing a high-quality playing experience that can be enjoyed by mainstream casual gamers with a sustainable token economy & ownership,’’ said PlayZap CEO & founder Buchvani. ‘’We are super thrilled and privileged to collaborate with KuCoin Labs as a strategic partner who believed in our team and vision since the start of our journey,’’ he added. 

The announcement marks the latest investment of KuCoin, which was first launched in 2017 and now lets more than 20 million users trade cryptocurrencies on its platform. Earlier this year, it raised over $150 million in a funding round led by Jump Crypto, bringing its valuation up to $10 billion. 

Its investment unit KuCoin Labs was launched in 2018, and now actively searches for early-stage projects to help them boost their growth and achieve their goals.

‘’KuCoin Labs believes that the gaming will be the gateway to the crypto mass adoption,’’ said Lou Yu, the Head of KuCoin Labs. ‘’PlayZap has provided a good opportunity for traditional web2.0 players to transit to crypto gaming easily with a leisure focus. The entire team has solid experience in web2.0 gaming with strong track records, which can be leveraged to power up the PlayZap’s ecosystem,’’ he added.