Six facts about the big deal: Mythical Games bought Ukrainian DMarket
Why the American unicorn needs a Ukrainian startup
On January 25, 2023, the American gaming company Mythical Games announced the purchase of the Ukrainian blockchain exchange DMarket. The platform allows selling and exchanging of items from virtual games. What is known about these companies? What is the transaction amount? And why does the American unicorn need a Ukrainian startup? Mind has selected the most interesting facts about the companies and the deal.
A deal with a crypto unicorn
Mythical Games is an American startup founded in 2018, developing computer games on the blockchain. Among them is the Blankos Block Party game launched in 2020, where users can own digital toys such as NFTs. Mythical Games received unicorn status with a valuation of over $1 billion in 2021. The project has raised $260 million in seven rounds. The last funding was in November 2021 as part of a Series C round, where they raised $150 million from Andreessen Horowitz.
The founders of the startup are John Linden, Jamie Jackson, Rudy Koch, and Chris Downs. The latter three left the project at the end of 2022.
Buying the world's first blockchain exchange for selling virtual game items
DMarket is the first blockchain exchange for the sale and exchange of virtual game items: CS:GO, Team Fortress 2, Rust, Dota2, and others. The project was founded in 2017 by Volodymyr Panchenko, founder of skins.cash, a platform for trading virtual items, Oleksandr Kokhanovsky, founder of the NaVi (Natus Vincere) esports club, and Tamara Slanova.
$1 million in 17 minutes of ICO
In 2017, DMarket raised $25 million during two stages of ICO. Although it initially intended to raise only $1 million, the company received this amount in the first 17 minutes of the ICO. Its latest Series A investment round took place in June 2020, where the startup raised another $7.2 million. Almaz Capital and Xsolla became investors.
During this round, the founder of Electronic Arts joined DMarket's board of directors. "The main thing is that the project, in addition to the ICO, has raised two more rounds of investment and has been sold in the midst of the war, for an amount and with a multiplier neither in terms of revenue nor users that will not be beaten by 100% by Ukrainian startups soon," says Denys Dovgopoly, co-founder and managing partner of GrowthUP Group.
The biggest deal during the war?
The parties did not disclose the amount of the deal. In the summer of 2022, Volodymyr Panchenko estimated his startup to be worth at least $100 million. According to him, the platform's turnover grew by 192% in 2022 compared to 2021. The year before last, it amounted to $60 million. Of this, 6% is the company's earnings. "We send all questions about the amount to Ilya Boshniakov (publisher of Ain. – Mind). He estimated the amount to be between $70-100 million. Unfortunately, I can't comment on this, but I will support the logic he has used in his calculations," Dovgopoly wrote.
Launch of Mythical Marketplace 2.0
As a result of this agreement, Mythical Games announced the launch of Mythical Marketplace 2.0. It will allow the exchange of game currency, virtual items, and NFTs. The platform will support assets from NFL Rivals and Nitro Nation World Tour with plans to expand to all games of the publisher.
According to the American company, this acquisition is an important milestone for Mythical Games, as DMarket's technology "allows us to create a cutting-edge trading platform for digital assets." The Mythical Marketplace 2.0 is built on the new Layer 1 EVM blockchain and works with MYTH's own tokens. As a result of the agreement with DMarket, the company will have the second-largest digital asset processing on the blockchain (after Ethereum Mainnet). Marketplace 2.0 enables p2p transactions and allows gamers to participate in the gaming economy. Mythical Chain has been operating for six weeks and has processed 2 million transactions.
The startup co-founders remain in the team
Mythical Games will receive DMarket's developments and technologies. The Kyiv office of the startup will become part of Mythical East. DMarket co-founders Volodymyr Panchenko and Tamara Slanova will join Mythical's management team and work on gaming marketplace technologies.
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