Gaming

Gaming site Haste Arcade raises $1.5M in oversubscribed fundraising round

Published

2 years ago

June 9, 2022

Gaming site Haste Arcade raises $1.5M in oversubscribed fundraising round

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Haste Arcade has just closed its $1.5 million seed round. The fundraising was oversubscribed, Haste was able to exceed the $1 million target that it had set for itself.

“We were originally seeking $1MM to lay a good solid foundation for the product/vision and then have some working capital to start testing our assumptions around product/market fit, specifically with marketing outside the ‘crypto’ community,” said Dan Wagner, the co-founder of Haste Arcade.

“After pitching the concept to a handful of investors, it became obvious that we weren’t the only ones thinking ILP™ Gaming could potentially become a ‘thing.’ We stopped pitching a couple of months ago but due to word of mouth and interest from other investors we were able to secure an additional $500K on top of the original goal bringing the total to $1.5MM,” he added.

The gaming industry

According to Wagner, there are several elements of the Haste Arcade that make investors confident in Haste’s future.

“First and foremost, the idea; its novel, it’s new, and it’s easy to understand. Get on the leaderboard. Get paid. It’s not rocket science by any means and at the same rate, it’s not hard to imagine something like ILP™ Gaming catching on and taking off.

“Secondly, the market. Online gaming is absolutely massive and even if you’re only able to capture a small fraction of the gamers in the world, you can build a business with millions or hundreds of millions of users.

“And finally, our team. It’s not our first rodeo, meaning, we’ve raised capital before and we’ve shown what it takes to build a business. Many don’t know this, but the four co-founders of Haste, Inc. have been working together for basically seven years at this point. We move fast, are great at failing, iterating, pivoting, and quite frankly just getting stuff done and keeping the ball rolling.

“Add in the rest of the folks we’ve brought on and our core team of 8 forms a solid foundation. When you realize the core team’s skill set and experience, you realize that in a lot of ways, it’s not your average startup. Since we started building beta, everything has been done first class. If we are right, Haste Arcade has uncovered an entirely new category in gaming, and there is most likely some money to be made from being the market leader for something like that,” said Wagner.

The lead investor in the round was Jonathan Cogley, the CEO of Logic Boost Labs. Cogley has a long and successful history in the cybersecurity field and recently sold his cybersecurity company Thycotic for $1.4 billion. Now, he spends his time at Logic Boost Labs, a San Diego-based accelerator that invests in early-stage leaders.

Other notable investors that participated in the seed round include Thomas Vu, who formerly worked at Riot Games helping bring League of Legends to market; Anthony Borquez, the CEO of Grab Games and a professor at the University of Southern California; Craig Brennan, the Silicon Valley veteran with decades of experience in software leadership/management that sits as the CEO of private and public companies; and Brad Powers the CIO of Passport.

Seeing new investors throw their hats in the ring is a positive sign. Investors provide companies with the resources they need to succeed because they see value in the company’s business model and have the belief that their business will be worth significantly more in the future. Businesses like Haste that find a way to implement innovative ideas that have the potential to revolutionize an industry will always be sought after by investors.

The fact that the latest haste fundraising round was oversubscribed confirms that theory and supports the idea that there is a tremendous amount of value that can be realized by the businesses using the Bitcoin blockchain as a core component of the app, service, or experience that they are creating.

The Haste Arcade future

“We are highly focused on a couple of things at the moment like capturing and analyzing data from our marketing efforts and sharpening the unit economics so that we have a compelling story when we start raising growth capital. We are also highly focused on creating new and more engaging experiences throughout the arcade. We’re very excited about certain items on our roadmap and believe the online gaming community will be too,” said Wagner.

Ultimately, the money Haste Arcade has raised will bring them closer to having their overall vision come to fruition.

“In the future, you will come to Haste Arcade for awesome experiences. You will play games, compete, and have fun, but you will also drop in just to hang out, be social, and communicate with the friends that you’ve made from all around the world. You will enjoy immersive experiences in the metaverse. You will make some money and some will even quit their jobs and become professional gamers in the arcade,” Wagner said.

“You will see Haste Arcade on national television. You will see Haste Arcade promoted by the biggest celebrities and pro athletes in the world. You will buy a Haste console. You will play ILP™ games at your local bar. You will even walk into a physical arcade and play skeeball or shoot hoops for ILP™. If you are involved now, you will be proud to have been a part of it all in its early stages,” he added.

Related Topics:Dan Wagner the co-founder of Haste Arcade Haste Arcade

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Gaming

Midjiwan opens Stockholm’s first co-working space for game developers

Published

3 days ago

April 17, 2024

Adrienn Sarkany

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Midjiwan, the award-winning independent studio behind The Battle of Polytopia, today announces the opening of Game Town, Stockholm’s first coworking space for game developers.

In addition to being a new home for Midjiwan, Game Town will also serve as a base for Toppluva AB, the makers of Grand Mountain Adventure; Warm Kitten AB, the developers behind Justin Wack and the Big Time Hack; Gro Play AB, a studio creating educational games; and Dataspelsbranschen, Sweden’s trade association for video game companies. More game development companies are expected to join over the next few months.

The Swedish games industry, including subsidiaries abroad, generated SEK 86.5 billion (USD $7.9 billion) in 2022, according to a Dataspelsbranschen report. Gaming is a strong growth industry, accounting for over 4 percent of Sweden’s total service exports. Game Town will become a creative, innovative, and social meeting place, further solidifying Stockholm as a key games industry hub with industry meetups, mixers, and game showcases hosted for indie and AAA developers.

Södermalm, the Stockholm island where Game Town is located, has one of the highest concentrations of game developers. The nearby areas constitute a cluster for companies within game development, housing among others Paradox, DICE, Fatshark, and Epic Games.

Christian Lövstedt, General Manager at Midjiwan, commented:

“Game Town will become a professional and playful environment for smaller game studios that want to work and develop among other developers. We’re looking to create a community of people who share our same passion for gaming and game development. Game Town will bring together indie developers and freelancers to create an open and welcoming place for the entire industry to gather.”

Per Strömbäck, Chairman of Dataspelsbranschen.

“Within a kilometer radius of Södermalm, there are at least 3,000 game developers, making it perhaps the most densely populated place for game developers in the world. Here, games are created for billions of players worldwide. Perhaps there is something in the Earth’s magnetic field that makes local games particularly good? Game Town will be located right in the middle of this hub, so it is only right that our own office should be right here.”

Gaming

Metaverse Studio Karta Reaches Huge Milestone with New Game Beat Builder

Published

4 days ago

April 16, 2024

Alan Campbell

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Karta pushes the boundaries of music game innovation with Built Builder on Fortnite – reaching 100k players

Beat Builder is Fortnite’s first-ever build-based rhythm game
Karta partners with NoCopyrightSounds for the game’s music library
Two new big songs just added: Royalty by Egzod & Maestro Chives and Invincible by Deaf Kev

Karta, an award-winning metaverse studio pioneering the world of in-game experiential marketing, continues to push the boundaries of music game innovation as its latest project, Beat Builder, reaches 100,000 players.

Beat Builder is an interactive music rhythm game where players put down walls, ramps, floors and cones to the beat of the music. Centred on building a core Fortnite gameplay feature used in its very popular Battle Royal, Beat Builder is the first-ever build-based rhythm game on the platform. As well as being a music-filled experience played for fun, the game is also used as a practice tool for players to improve their game-playing skills on Fortnite.

To create the game’s eclectic music library, Karta has partnered with NoCopyrightSounds, a copyright-free record label and music platform. Focusing on drumstep, phonk and trap electronic music for now, with artists such as Twisted, if found, XTOM and Lost Sky, players interact with the stems of each song that have their own visual world to match the vibe. Karta aims to develop the game further, updating it with a plethora of new music and genres such as metal, K-pop and rock. The long-term aim of Beat Builder is to integrate artists into Fortnite to share their music with fans, with the game becoming a recognised platform for exploring new artists and music.

Reaching 100,000 players is a significant milestone for a new metaverse game with Beat Builder continuing to grow in popularity since its launch recently. To mark the milestone, Karta has updated the game with two of NCS biggest songs; Royalty by Egzod & Maestro Chives and Invincible by Deaf Kev and is already planning further extensions, partnerships and new seasons.

“We’re thrilled that Beat Builder has gotten off to such a great start,” the Chief Executive Officer for Karta, Erik Londre, said. “We wanted to create a rhythm game that felt 100% Fortnite native, where the music is connected to the platform’s core building gameplay. A rhythm game that makes you a better gamer is an idea that excites us a lot.”

“Beat Builder truly encapsulates what Karta is all about; innovative and forward-thinking design that combines incredible music with interactive gaming in one entertaining place,” the Chief Growth Officer for Karta, Tony Barnes, said. “Music’s presence in the metaverse is evolving and we think Beat Builder has the potential to become its own platform for artists and brands to authentically connect to a Fortnite audience through gameplay and new music. We can’t wait to develop it and see how it grows.”

Since launching in 2021, Karta has worked with brands such as Amazon Music, McDonald’s and Hugo Boss. As well as working with Spotify on its iconic global campaign, Spotify Wrapped, to gamify the listening habits of Spotify users and bring this into the metaverse. Through these partnerships, Karta is reshaping entertainment experiences in the metaverse and creating meaningful connections between brands and their audiences. In the past year, the London-based studio has also worked with global artists like Nicki Minaj for her Gag City experience in Roblox, K-pop giant Blackpink with its hugely popular Blackpink the Palace and Twice with its Twice Square, which has become the most successful persistent music experience on Roblox.

“We’re very happy to provide the music for Beat Builder, a brilliant new game that gives players the chance to interact with the music like never before,” the Brand Manager for NCS, Charlotte Lee, said. “It has the potential to become a go-to platform for music gaming and we’re proud to support it.”

Beat Builder is available now to explore on Fortnite. For more information, go to www. Karta. game.

eSports

Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov is a New Virtus.pro Player

Published

5 days ago

April 15, 2024

Alan Campbell

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov (pictured), one of the most decorated and famous players in CS2, a Major champion and winner of the Intel Grand Slam, is moving to Virtus.pro.

“The arrival of star players always generates excitement within the club and among its fans,” the Chief Executive Officer for Virtus.pro, Nikolai Petrossian, said. “Denis is a well-known figure in the world of eSports with an impressive list of major victories and exceptional skill. Few players won both at Major and Intel Grand Slam events.

“Our CS2 roster is strong thanks to teamwork, a clearly defined playstyle and the individual talents of our players. Transferring players with outstanding skills to improve specific areas is a common practice in sports. I am confident that Denis joining will give a powerful boost to the team in the upcoming challenges in Dallas, London and beyond.

“Denis will replace Nikolay ‘mir’ Bityukov in the VP lineup. Nikolay has been a loyal and valuable member of our team and we express our gratitude for his contributions. Nikolay ‘mir’ Bityukov is open to offers from other teams.”

“Virtus.pro is a top team,” Sharipov said. “The core of the roster has won a Major not a while ago and all the players are in their prime and ready for victories right now. We share the same ambitions and goals. Besides, I’m also excited about the idea of playing with Jame as he’s one of the most unique IGLs in the game. Can’t wait to adapt to my new team and start doing what I came here for, winning trophies.”

Sharipov has dozens of victories at elite tournaments, including: