According to a press release published by CryptoComLearn, Merit Circle, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), has announced the successful completion of its seed round, raising $4.5 million. The funding came from experienced venture capitalists and strategic partners, including DeFiance Capital, Mechanism Capital, Spartan Group, Maven11, OP Crypto, Dialectic, CitizenX, Yield Guild Games, and Bitscale Capital.
The Rise of Play-to-Earn: A Paradigm Shift
A decade ago, the global gaming industry was estimated to be worth around $52.8 billion. Today, its true value, including software, hardware, content, and IP, could be as much as $335.5 billion worldwide. With growth comes innovation, and thanks to the decentralized nature of blockchain technology, a novel, fairer business model for games has emerged: play-to-earn. Why pay to play a game when you can play a game to earn?
An excellent example of this is Merit Circle's original game, Axie Infinity. What launched as a small operation in March 2018 quickly grew to become the largest play-to-earn game to date with over 2 million daily active users. It also led to the creation of Merit Circle, a DAO with the aim of becoming a dominant player in the play-to-earn industry.
Long-Term Vision and Strategic Partnerships
Merit Circle's journey is a long-term one, investing in more games with the same potential as Axie Infinity. Many of the new games in its sights are still in the development phase, giving the DAO time to prepare by conducting extensive research, finding the right players, and acquiring substantial amounts of NFTs to enter these metaverses the right way.
As well as Axie Infinity, Merit Circle has formed strong partnerships with Star Atlas, Illuvium, Hash Rush, and NyanHeroes to work collaboratively towards a sustainable future for play-to-earn. The team is proud to have the support of some of the largest names in the industry.
Oversubscribed Seed Round: Investor Selection Criteria
The latest seed round, which was hugely oversubscribed, enabled Merit Circle to select only those who would contribute to its long-term success as a DAO, with a focus on four main principles:
- Experience – Creating an organization consisting of those who have a long-term vision for Merit Circle, as well as a thorough understanding of the industry and governance models. The team chose to work solely with funds that have been around for longer to protect the viability of the project and actively participate in DAO governance.
- Industry connections – Partners who will enable the DAO to collaboratively uplift the metaverse in numerous ways, be it through collective game tournaments, real-life events, giveaways, exclusive in-game airdrops, or early access to AAA games.
- Diversification – Merit Circle is a global organization with scholars and team members all over the world. Backers from Asia, Europe, Australia, and the United States help inform a governance forum that is diverse, knowledgeable, and aware of the latest developments in any region.
- Sustainable long-term vision – The most important factor is the strong long-term vision of each investor. The play-to-earn industry is still in its infancy; Merit Circle is here to help it mature.
The team expressed gratitude for the industry-leading investors and determination to work with them to revolutionize ways of earning for the masses. A governance forum will be established in the coming weeks, bringing them closer to launching their token. More information about a public investment round will be released in the near future.
About Merit Circle
Merit Circle is a decentralized autonomous organization focused on the play-to-earn ecosystem. It aims to create sustainable income for its community by investing in and managing NFT assets in popular games. For more details, follow Merit Circle on Twitter, Discord, Telegram, or visit their website.