Twitch co-founder raises $24 million for Web3 gaming company Metatheory

Web3 games and entertainment company Metatheory, founded by Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, raised $24 million in a Series A funding round on May 16.

The round was led by crypto capital venture firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Pantera Capital, the venture arm of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, FTX Ventures and other venture firms, the announcement noted.

Metatheory was launched in November 2021, about a year after Lin left Twitch, where he wrote in a Medium article at the time that he founded the gaming company and also a blockchain game called DuskBreakers. Lin was quoted as saying in this week’s announcement:

“Building immersive digital experiences has always been a passion of mine, and having retired from Twitch to explore what’s next in the industry, I firmly believe that blockchain opens the door to even more possibilities and a major impact on gaming, storytelling, and collaborative build space.”

ICYMI: Today we are pleased to announce a $24 million Series A round in Metatheory, our parent company.

A big TY to: @a16z@PanteraCapital@FTX_Official
Breyer capital @jimihendrixlive@MeritCircle_IO@Globalcoinrsrch@Sfermion_@daedalus_angels@dragonfly_cap@rechargecapital

— DuskBreakers (@DuskBreakers) May 16, 2022

DuskBreakers was released in December 2021 with the artwork designed by the former lead illustrator at Twitch. The Ethereum-based game implemented a “play-to-mint” model for its first 10,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Those looking for an NFT will need to play an arcade game to validate their whitelist entry.

The DuskBreakers team plans to release comics and animation to continue its storyline, and additional NFTs and content are in the works at Metatheory, with a play-to-earn game set to launch in Q4 2022.

Related: How blockchain games are creating entire economies in addition to their gameplay: report

Lin isn’t the only Twitch co-founder interested in gaming NFTs. In December 2021, Justin Kan, another Twitch co-founder, launched NFT marketplace Fractal, which focuses on blockchain gaming tokens and said that “NFTs are the future of gaming.”

Blockchain gaming is gaining interest from titans of the traditional gaming industry, most recently Square Enix announced in its earnings report that it will be expanding NFTs to more of its games in 2022.

Microsoft’s CEO said the development of Metaverse platforms is a key driver behind the $69 billion acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard, and that Sega is aiming to launch cloud technology NFTs as part of its new “Super Game” project that links its various games together.