Singapore’s Matr1x, a prominent NFT gaming company, has successfully raised an additional $10 million in funding for its mobile gaming ventures, as revealed in the company’s recent announcement on Thursday.
The funding round, known as A-2, was spearheaded by Folius Ventures, with SevenX, a crypto venture capital firm, joining as a co-lead investor. Other contributors to the round include ABCDE Capital, Jambo, Initiate Capital, and Find Satoshi Lab, the creators of Stepn and the upcoming Gas Hero game.
This latest capital injection brings Matr1x’s total venture capital funding to $20 million, effectively doubling the $10 million raised in 2022.
Founder of Folius Ventures, Jason Kam, expressed confidence in Matr1x, stating, “Matr1x has real potential in exploring the uncharted for this industry.” Kam acknowledged the challenges in the broader crypto industry but noted that Matr1x strikes an elegant balance that could lead to critical scale, mass market appeal, and sustainable profitability, potentially avoiding the pitfalls of the Web3 death spiral.
Matr1x Fire, the flagship product of the studio, is a mobile-first-person shooter game where players choose characters from a roster and engage in five-person team battles to eliminate opponents. The game’s aesthetics bear resemblance to Riot Games’ popular shooter, Valorant, with maps, weapons, and character designs echoing Riot’s competitive title.
Matr1x envisions the development of an esports scene around Matr1x Fire, which is currently in the development phase. In addition to the gaming venture, the studio has launched two NFT collections and plans to release a third collection serving as a membership pass for governance access and revenue sharing in its creator economy. This collection will also grant buyers an upgradeable battle pet.
However, concerns have arisen within the gaming community regarding potential similarities between Matr1x Fire and NetEase’s Hyper Front, a mobile title that faced legal action from Riot Games for alleged Valorant copying, leading to its shutdown in April. Some gamers have drawn parallels between Matr1x Fire and Hyper Front, nicknaming the former as “Valorant mobile” or “Valorant lite.”
Responding to these concerns, Matr1x clarified via email to Decrypt, stating, “Matr1x Fire is a CS:GO style game which does not allow heroes to wield special powers or skills, unlike Valorant.” The studio emphasized the distinctions between their game and Hyper Front, asserting that Matr1x Fire falls more into the CS:GO category.
Matr1x also disclosed that it has commenced publishing comprehensive lore for Matr1x Fire through its Matr1x Worldview Stories, providing insights into the game’s world and the events leading to the war in the fictional year 2061.
