Framework Ventures allocates half of $400M fund to Web3 gaming

Crypto-focused venture firm Framework Ventures has raised $400 million in new funding to invest in early-stage companies across the Web3, blockchain gaming and decentralized finance (DeFi) industries. 

"FVIII," as the fund is called, includes a $200 million allocation to blockchain gaming projects, the company confirmed Tuesday. Framework Ventures, which had early exposure to DeFi, now has over $1.4 billion in assets under management. The company was an early investor in projects such as Chainlink, Aave and The Graph.

Like DeFi in 2020, gaming and Web3 have been identified as the next major growth plays for the blockchain industry. Axie Infinity — a popular play-to-earn (P2E) game constructed around collecting digital pet avatars called Axies — has provided a solid use case for this emerging paradigm. According to blockchain analytics platform Nansen, there are currently 2.8 million unique addresses holding 11.1 million Axies.

Web3 and NFTs stole the show at SXSW 2022, while BTC and cryptocurrency enjoyed very little focus. https://t.co/e38F0Hifon

As Cointelegraph reported, Web3 is also fostering the continued growth of the nonfungible token (NFT) market by giving creators the ability to develop NFTs with actual use cases inside virtual ecosystems.

Related: An open invitation for women to join the Web3 movement

Venture funds and other smart money investors have been keen to back Web3 development companies. On Tuesday, Cointelegraph reported that KuCoin ecosystem companies had launched a $100 million Web3 developer fund focusing on NFT projects. Separately, crypto exchange CoinDCX has raised $135 million to support India-based Web3 projects.

Beyond the blockchain industry, it’s believed that the play-to-earn model could have a significant impact on the future of gaming. Myspace co-founder and former CEO Chris DeWolfe told Cointelegraph that the business model of play-to-earn gives players more control over their in-game experiences.