The open-world game Sandbox, supported by parent company Animoca Brands, and partner Brinc, will be supporting blockchain startups with its newly instigated $50M seed fund.
With blockchain gaming earning more ground in the past few months, startups are raking in large amounts of funds from crypto giants. On the other hand, this is one of the few instances where a blockchain-based game itself will be ramping up other startup projects in the same field.
According to an announcement released by Brinc, the accelerator program named Launchpad Luna will select potentially successful startups that will receive up to $250k funding.
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Every year, the program is set to fund about 40 blockchain gaming startups, with top-performing projects receiving "SAND and LAND grants, along with follow-on investment" on the Sandbox as a bonus. The number of grants given to each project may reach $150K in value.
The accelerator program expects to lift up about 100 startups that will be tested based on their performance in metaverse compatibility and user experience. In fact, startups will have access to a variety of mentoring figures from the Sandbox development team and other companies involved in the funding.
At this point, Brinc already has open applications for any startups that are looking to pitch their projects for the initial fund, led by the prime investor of the project - Animoca Brands, which is the parent company of the Sandbox.
According to Brinc’s CEO Manav Gupta, he sees the metaverse as a new way of life, and talked about how the digital environment might help towards environmental goals. He added:
"New metaverse startups and Web 3.0 technologies have the potential to not only develop new ways to work and play, but also to democratize access to financial services, education and entertainment."
Likewise, Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands Yat Siu highlighted the importance of empowering creators and players by giving them an open development platform and support, stating:
"The open metaverse will not be owned by any single entity and thus presents an incredible opportunity to create a participatory and collaborative nonzero-sum environment based on openness, equitability, user governance, and digital property rights."
Co-founder of the Sandbox Sebastien Borget sees the project as a great place for the underdogs - as in projects who do not have proper representation, nor enough funding to progress with the development.
He hopes that "with imagination, ideas and hard work, startups from all over the world can realize their visions and drive societal impact by creating more opportunities for everyone."
