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AcadArena, a startup that builds student gaming communities across the Philippines, has secured US$3.5 million (PHP176M) in a seed funding round.
Over 50 investors from prominent businesses worldwide participated in the seed round. They include 1KX (a community and token fund), Hashed (Korean Blockchain VC firm), Kevin Lin (co-founder of Twitch), Holly Liu (co-founder of Kabam), Patrick Lee (co-founder of Rotten Tomatoes), Kun Gao (co-founder of Crunchyroll), Jeffrey “Jihoz” Zirlin (co-founder of Sky Mavis, which owns Axie Infinity), and Yat Siu (co-founder of Animoca Brands).
The Iloilo City-headquartered startup will use the money for team expansion, acquiring more play-to-earn assets, product development, and strategic partnerships. AcadArena is also looking to grow campus gaming communities across Southeast Asia and equip students with core skills to become global citizens in an ever-changing world.
Founded in February 2019 by Ariane Lim, Kevin Hoang, and Justin Banusing, AcadArena started as a community project before transforming into a startup providing funds for e-sports scholarship.
In the current form, AcadArena is focused on building student gaming communities across the Philippines and Southeast Asia and educating the youth about web3 and the metaverse. It also provides financial aid and play-to-earn scholarships for exemplary student gamers to help them graduate.
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To date, AcadArena claims a presence in over 500 colleges in the Philippines, encompassing 150,000 students through the gaming and e-sports communities it has built. It has also helped establish student gaming and e-sports clubs in some of the country’s top schools, such as Ateneo, UPD, UST, and La Salle.
AcadArena is also the official Philippine collegiate licensee for Riot Games titles and the partner of Globe Telecom for campus gaming.
In mid-2021, AcadArena launched a mass play-to-earn programme, alongside a partnership with Filipino-led decentralised gaming guild (Yield Guild Games), teaching college students web3 technology while safely and skillfully earning money through crypto games.
“We’re honestly just building what we wish we had when we were students. Growing up, gaming was thought to be a waste of time, but now we’re able to provide students with opportunities to connect, earn and succeed through gaming. I am confident that we will be able to reach out to millions more students and validate their passion for games,” said co-founder Kevin Hoang.
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“As play to earn revolutionises the ownership model of games, we see guilds becoming an increasingly critical part of the emerging metaverse economy,” says 1KX co-founder Lasse Clausen. “We believe that player talent, not capital, will be the key resource across play to earn games. Because AcadArena focuses on onboarding universities and student clubs around the world, we believe it is uniquely positioned to become a landmark guild over the coming years.”
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