Revealing which Web3 projects the richest game venture capital fund Griffin Gaming Partners has invested in?

Written by: Zen, PANews

According to data from market research firm Newzoo, the gaming market has now surpassed the total of movies, music, and books, and is the fastest-growing consumer trend globally, expected to grow by 248% over the next decade. With the development of blockchain technology, more and more people believe that blockchain-based Web3 games will be one of the important directions for the future development of the gaming industry. [Griffin Gaming Partners](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Investors/detail/Griffin Gaming Partners?k=MjUx) (referred to as "GGP"), which has the largest fund in the gaming industry, supports this view.

Based in Santa Monica, California, Griffin Gaming Partners is currently a venture capital firm that invests in gaming content, software infrastructure, social platforms, and Web3 companies related to gaming, with assets under management exceeding $1 billion. In March 2022, its second fund was oversubscribed, raising over $750 million. As a venture capital fund focused on the gaming industry, GGP had already participated in 16 Web3-related investments, including the blockchain gaming platform Forte, accounting for more than half of its deployed capital; since launching its second fund, they have also invested in the public chain project Aptos, Web3 gaming company The Wildcard Alliance, and blockchain game developer and publisher [N3twork Studios](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/N3TWORK Studios?k=NDY4Ng==), among others.

Three veterans in gaming and entertainment join forces

Griffin Gaming Partners was founded in 2019 by Peter Levin, Phil Sanderson, and Nick Tuosto. The team they lead has extensive investment experience in the gaming, media, and entertainment industries, and they launched their first fund of $235 million the following year.

Phil Sanderson has been in the venture capital industry since 1997. Prior to that, he worked in the financial division of the international investment bank Goldman Sachs and at global investment management firm Robertson Stephens. From 1997 to 2006, he served as a general partner at an investment firm called Walden VC, and then co-founded Ridge Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures) in 2006. His investments include some of the leading gaming infrastructure and content companies in the world, such as Discord, Phoenix Labs, Vivox, Triller, and Funzio.

Phil Sanderson (far left), Peter Levin (center), and Nick Tuosto

Peter Y. Levin brings decades of operational experience to Griffin Gaming Partners. He has served as the president of interactive venture capital, gaming, and digital strategy at Lionsgate, and co-founded the popular culture content creation platform Nerdist Industries, where he was CEO until it was acquired by Hollywood film company Legendary Entertainment in 2012. Levin has been building businesses and investing in the gaming industry for years, and he was an early advisor and investor in the Finnish company Rovio, known for launching the game Angry Birds.

Nick Tuosto currently serves as a managing director at the U.S. investment bank LionTree, focusing on technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT). He facilitated the strategic partnership between LionTree and Griffin Gaming Partners. Tuosto has extensive experience in the internet and digital media, having provided advisory services for mergers and acquisitions to several leading global gaming companies, including Tencent's acquisition of Finnish mobile game company Supercell and Disney's sale of its gaming studio FoxNext to mobile game developer and publisher Scopely.

The potential of Web3 games needs to be unleashed

As a top gaming fund, GGP reviews over 1,300 qualified projects each year. They analyze vast amounts of data and proprietary research, combined with practical experience from supporting the growth of portfolio companies, to identify potential investment opportunities from seed to growth stages. They provide insights on growth, retention, and monetization, and leverage their unique resources in the gaming and investment sectors to assist portfolio companies in business development.

Before launching their second fund, GGP stated that they would try to avoid blindly following popular trends, but their intelligence and data-driven investment strategy led them to choose to support and invest in Web3 and blockchain games. According to Nick Tuosto, "Our argument is simple: with our focused attention and analytical capabilities, we can understand vast amounts of data and see around the corners. This provides a basis for us to assess risk and return, but it also allows us to work with our portfolio companies through business development and consistent advice to navigate these highly dynamic market conditions." He added, "We help our portfolio companies open the right doors at the right time to unlock transformational opportunities."

With the development and iteration of Web3 games, and witnessing a large influx of top talent dedicated to building Web3 games, GGP has determined that the paradigm shift of Web3 will become a massive market expansion for gaming, and the introduction of Web3 infrastructure, content, and business models will have a significant impact on gaming. They believe that new models of digital property ownership in games have the potential to support lasting player engagement and a balanced digital economy, but require very talented and experienced teams to unleash the potential of blockchain games.

Phil Sanderson stated that the current combination of Web3, blockchain, and gaming is similar to the era of free-to-play game models he experienced, which positively disrupted the industry. The core of what excites and engages developers and gamers is:

• Providing broader utility and greater ownership flexibility for digital assets both in and out of games
• Further supporting casual gamers, professional players, collectors, builders, disseminators, and stakeholders within the gaming industry
• Automatically rewarding players for the value they contribute to the developer ecosystem (e.g., blockchain-based UGC)
• Promoting trust and transparency in primary and secondary markets
• Offering open global liquidity and a native built-in payment system
• Building passionate communities and closeness between developers and players, aligning incentives and establishing feedback loops

Portfolio covers blockchain games, development tools, and infrastructure

According to incomplete statistics from PANews, GGP has currently invested in 31 blockchain and Web3-related projects, with its portfolio primarily consisting of blockchain game developers, game development tools, and blockchain public chain projects, along with a small number of investments in DeFi and NFT sectors. The following is a brief introduction to some of the larger financing projects.

Aptos is an L1 public chain project founded by former Meta employees. After Meta's Libra project (later renamed Diem) was shelved at the end of January 2022, some core members who left formed a team to develop the Aptos public chain based on Diem's open-source code. It uses the programming language Move and focuses on the security, scalability, and upgradability of the blockchain. GGP participated in Aptos's $150 million financing completed in July 2022, which was led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto, with other investors including Franklin Templeton, Circle Ventures, and Superscrypt.

N3twork Studios is a blockchain game developer and publisher established in January 2022 by the gaming team of N3TWORK Inc. The team consists of over 60 industry veterans from companies such as EA, Kabam, Zynga, Glu, GREE, Scopely, Machine Zone, Warner Brothers, and Disney, who have built and operated many successful live-service games. N3TWORK Studios is developing a diverse multi-platform game portfolio, including the upcoming Legendary Heroes Unchained and Triumph. GGP led N3twork Studios' $46 million Series A financing completed in May 2022, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Galaxy Interactive, KIP, Floodgate, and others.

Everyrealm is a metaverse project under the alternative asset crowdfunding platform Republic, shaping the metaverse through investment, management, and development of assets, including NFTs, virtual real estate, metaverse platforms, games, and infrastructure. GGP participated in Everyrealm's $60 million Series A financing completed in February 2022, which was led by a16z, with participation from Coinbase, NGC Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, Hashed, Lightspeed, and Griffin Gaming Partners.

Forte is a blockchain gaming infrastructure company whose platform allows game publishers to integrate blockchain technology into their games, providing seamless, embeddable token wallet products, NFT minting and sales, payment rails, and other services built specifically for blockchain token economies and digital and virtual asset management. In May 2021, Forte raised $185 million in Series A financing, with a valuation of $1 billion. GGP led this round of financing, with participation from Union Grove Venture Partners, a16z, Battery Ventures, Canaan, and others. At the end of the same year, GGP, in collaboration with Forte and Solana Ventures, announced a $150 million investment in blockchain games.

[Gunzilla Games](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Gunzilla Games?k=NDg1NA==) is a game studio whose team comes from various well-known studios and publishers, including Ubisoft, Electronic Arts (EA), Blizzard Entertainment, THQ, and others. Gunzilla launched a blockchain-based digital economy platform called GUNZ built on the Avalanche subnet and is developing a cyberpunk-style battle royale third-person shooter game called Off The Grid (OTG), expected to be released in the second half of this year. Other game studios will also be able to use the GUNZ software development kit (SDK) and white-label components, such as built-in companion apps, marketplaces, and NFT minting engines, to build and publish their projects on GUNZ. GGP participated in Gunzilla's $46 million financing completed in August 2022, led by Republic Capital, with other participants including Animoca Brands, Jump Crypto, and others.

Wildcard Alliance is a Web3 gaming company whose parent company, independent game studio Playful Studios, was founded in 2012. The studio is known for producing the 3D platform game series "Lucky's Tale" and the sandbox adventure game "Creativerse." Wildcard Alliance is a AAA PVP game built on the Polygon chain that combines real-time strategy, multiplayer online competition, and card game elements. It plans to create a decentralized, autonomous Web3 competitive social platform. The platform aims to build a Web3 ecosystem through gaming, providing community and platform for content creators, organizers, and owners, and generating economic benefits. GGP participated in Wildcard Alliance's $46 million Series A financing completed in June 2022, led by Paradigm, with participation from Polygon and others.