Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_623033ffe80cd" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Polygon-based Crypto Unicorns has raised funds via a token sale where the participants will partake in its governance</li>
 <li>Despite a declining interest in NFTs, investment continues to flow into the nascent sector</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



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&#8217;s token sales are held in the Crypto Unicorns DAO Treasury. Participants of the $26 million token sale will play a &#8220;key&#8221; role in future governance decisions, the game&#8217;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 &#8220;unicorn&#8221; and 30,000 land NFTs (non-fungible tokens) sold with a value exceeding 2,200 ether ($4.8 million), per the release.



“We&#8217;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.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;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.&#8220; </blockquote>



Gaming on the blockchain now represents more than 50% of the crypto industry&#8217;s activity, according to data by decentralized application store <a href="https://dappradar.com/blog/blockchain-user-behavior-report-nfts-games-less-sensitive-to-global-crypto-trends" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DappRadar</a>. However, the sector is not without scams and rug pulls, which have resulted in <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/report-50-of-nft-holders-have-lost-access-to-their-nfts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">more than half</a> of NFT owners having lost access to at least one of their digital collectibles.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/the-breakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. </li>
</ul>

Backed VC

Crypto Unicorns Nets $26M in Token Sales Led by TCG, Backed VC

Casey Wagner

<div id="highlights-block_60f87de6c211c" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>TCG Capital Management leads $20 million Series A for virtual horse racing platform </li>
 <li>It is the second investment into an NFT platform Andreessen Horowitz has revealed this week </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Virtually Human Studio, the Australia-based startup behind online horse racing platform Zed Run, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by The Chernin Group Capital Management. Andreessen Horowitz and Red Beard Ventures also participated in the round.&nbsp;



VHS is the latest company profiting from the growing gaming and non-fungible token (NFT) industries. Zed Run is a marketplace and gaming program for what creators refer to as “breathing NFTs,” or NFTs that change and evolve over time, similar to real-life animals.&nbsp;



Zed Run users can virtually breed, sell and buy horses. Virtual horse owners can pay entrance fees to compete in races, and the site collects fees for all of the above. Race participants that come in first, second or third receive prize money in the form of ETH.&nbsp;



It’s a concept that may sound absurd to anyone unfamiliar with the gaming and NFT industries, but the demand is there.&nbsp;



“What the team at Virtually Human Studio is building fundamentally alters what it means to be a fan,&#8221; said Jacob Smilovitz, vice president at TCG, in a statement. &#8220;Fans are now empowered to come down from the bleachers, become owners themselves and play an active role in determining the outcome of the game.”



When launched in 2019, horses on Zed Run sold for around $30, but the explosion of the NFT market has proven to be fruitful for the company.



At time of publication, the Zed Run marketplace was completely sold out, but secondary markets abound. One has a horse available for <a href="https://opensea.io/collection/zed-run-official" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1.3 ETH</a>, or around $2,550 USD. 



It is the second NFT investment a16z has revealed this week. On Tuesday, the firm led a $100 million Series B funding round in NFT marketplace <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/a16z-leads-100m-round-for-nft-unicorn-opensea/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OpenSea</a>. 



The funding rounds come amid a major moment for NFTs across industries. Galaxy Digital founder and CEO Mike Novogratz and digital media entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck are part of the team behind <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/vaynerchuck-novogratz-partner-with-fanatics-for-new-nft-company-candy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Candy</a>, a new sports NFT marketplace with a focus on baseball. <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/binance-to-debut-nft-marketplace-with-warhol-dali-thursday/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binance</a> recently made its NFT marketplace debut with an auction featuring works from Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali. 



Zed Run is VHS’s first major project with more than 125,000 connected users. VHS closed its first seed funding round in May 2020, according to the company.&nbsp;