Polygon-based Crypto Unicorns has raised funds via a token sale where the participants will partake in its governance
Despite a declining interest in NFTs, investment continues to flow into the nascent sector

Crypto Unicorns, a popular NFT collection based on the Polygon blockchain, has netted $26 million in a token sale led by metaverse firm TCG and venture capital fund Backed VC.

BITKRAFT Ventures, Delphi Digital, Infinity Venture Crypto, Polygon Studios, CoinFund, BreederDAO, Emfarsis and ACME Capital also participated, among others, according to a press release on Tuesday.

Crypto Unicorns is expected to launch by the end of the month and will allow users to raise, breed and evolve their collectibles before sending them off to race opponents as well as participate in jousting contests.

Funds raised via Crypto Unicorn’s token sales are held in the Crypto Unicorns DAO Treasury. Participants of the $26 million token sale will play a “key” role in future governance decisions, the game’s developer Laguna Games said.

The purchase signals a continued interest by investors to participate in Web3 and NFT-based startups despite the sector having cooled from the frothy market conditions witnessed last year.

The digital pet and farming game has risen to popularity among collectors with more than 10,000 “unicorn” and 30,000 land NFTs (non-fungible tokens) sold with a value exceeding 2,200 ether ($4.8 million), per the release.

“We’ve developed Crypto Unicorns from the start to be a community-run game and the completion of this token sale is a big step toward that,” said Aron Beierschmitt, CEO and co-founder of Laguna.

“We want to move away from the extractive nature of free-to-play and nurture game economies that are owned by communities to embrace the core fundamentals of owning in-game items.“

Gaming on the blockchain now represents more than 50% of the crypto industry’s activity, according to data by decentralized application store DappRadar. However, the sector is not without scams and rug pulls, which have resulted in more than half of NFT owners having lost access to at least one of their digital collectibles.

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst.