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Crypto gaming funding: 458 rounds since 2024, median $150,000

By NAUT Research · · 8 min read

458 Crypto gaming funding rounds at 144 live Gaming-tagged NAUT companies since 1 January 2024, $697.8M disclosed. Logos: Balance, Gunzilla Games, The Sandbox, SHRAPNEL, Elixir Games, Mirror World, Illuvium, Wizzwoods, CROSS, CARV, MetaCene.

NAUT tracks 458 crypto gaming funding rounds announced since 1 January 2024 at 144 live Gaming-sector-tagged companies, and the 454 of them that disclosed an amount total $697.8M. The median disclosed round is $150,000, 389 of the 454 came in under $1M, and 14 reached $10M or more, 11 of which sit at companies whose own NAUT description is a game, a game studio or a gaming chain.

Data as of 11 November 2026, read from NAUT's own funding records. The scope is every round NAUT holds with an announcement date on or after 1 January 2024 at a live, unarchived, unmerged company row carrying the Gaming sector tag. 3 of the 14 rounds at $10M or more are out of the ranked list below, each for a reason its own NAUT description gives: Avalanche's $250M OTC sale of 12 December 2024 sits on a row described as an open, programmable smart contracts platform for decentralized applications; ZKasino's $26.2M Series A of 19 March 2024 sits on a row described as a decentralised betting platform built for Layer-2 ZK Rollups; and Moca Network's $10M of 12 November 2024 sits on a row described as an Animoca Brands membership NFT collection of 8888 unique Mocas. That leaves 11 rounds in the ranked list. 9 of those 11 were put through a source check and 7 came back confirmed on amount and date, with 1 or 2 published reports each under Sources; CARV and MetaCene are the 2 rounds no source check read. The check also covered 5 title claims for the people named here and confirmed 4; the 1 it did not confirm is left out of this report. Every count here was recomputed from the round rows, and NAUT Research wrote it. No one paid for it.

Which crypto gaming funding rounds cleared $10M, and who backed each?

11 rounds since 1 January 2024, ranked by disclosed amount, newest announcement first where amounts tie. The backer column is what NAUT's own round records hold, which is a floor and not the full cap table.

# Date Company Round Raised Backers
1 4 Sep 2024 Funding Round $30M , , , , and 9 more rows
2 26 Mar 2024 Funding Round $30M
3 6 Jun 2024 Funding Round $20M None on NAUT's record
4 13 Aug 2025 Funding Round $19.5M None on NAUT's record
5 27 Mar 2024 Seed Round $14M ,
6 18 Jun 2024 Series A $12M , , , ,
7 27 Mar 2024 Series A $12M
8 18 Nov 2025 Series A $10M None on NAUT's record
9 20 Mar 2025 Private $10M None on NAUT's record
10 25 Apr 2024 Series A $10M and 2 more rows
11 12 Mar 2024 Private A Round $10M and 4 more rows

Those 11 rounds carry $177.5M, 25.4% of the $697.8M disclosed across all 454 rounds. 7 of the 11 have at least 1 backer row on NAUT's record, 31 rows naming 29 distinct firms and people, and none of the 11 carries a lead flag in NAUT's data. The report cited for Balance says that round was "led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Galaxy Interactive", and the report cited for Wizzwoods names Animoca Brands among its leads, which NAUT holds no backer row for.

Who runs each company, and who backed it?

Anyone listed can ask NAUT to remove their page at https://naut.so/legal/data-deletion.

How much did each crypto gaming startup raise?

Raised per round, the 11 at $10M or more
  1. Balance$30M
  2. Gunzilla Games$30M
  3. The Sandbox$20M
  4. SHRAPNEL$19.5M
  5. Elixir Games$14M
  6. Mirror World$12M
  7. Illuvium$12M
  8. Wizzwoods$10M
  9. CROSS$10M
  10. CARV$10M
  11. MetaCene$10M

Balance and Gunzilla Games took $60M of the $177.5M in these 11 rounds, 33.8% of it. The other 440 disclosed rounds in the window, all under $10M each, add up to $234.1M.

What does crypto gaming funding look like by round type?

Token sales dominate the count and hold very little of the money. 314 of the 458 rounds, 68.6%, are IDO or IEO sales, and the 312 of those that disclosed an amount total $63.2M.

Round type Rounds Disclosed Median
IDO 225 $55.5M across 224 $200,000
IEO 89 $7.7M across 88 $50,000
Private 64 $38.7M across 64 $85,000
Equity 23 $138.5M across 23 $4.0M
Funding Round 18 $155.0M across 18 $4.88M
KOL 13 $1.9M across 13 $50,000
Strategic 12 $26.3M across 12 $1.5M
Pre-sale 9 $9.9M across 7 $300,000
ICO 4 $14.4M across 4 $3.65M
OTC Sale 1 $250.0M across 1 $250.0M

Those are the round type labels NAUT holds, 3 of them grouped: Private covers the Private, Private Round and Private A Round labels, Equity covers every Seed and Series A label, and Strategic covers Strategic and Strategic Round. The 10 groups cover all 458 rounds and the $697.8M. The single OTC Sale row is Avalanche's $250M, which this report keeps out of the ranked list. Timing is heavily weighted to the first year: 398 of the 458 rounds landed in 2024, 54 in 2025 and 6 in 2026 at 4 companies, the largest of those a $5M seed round.

What this tells a BD team

  • The spendable accounts are a short list. 11 rounds carry $177.5M of the $697.8M disclosed, from Balance at $30M down to MetaCene at $10M, and 9 of the 11 companies have a named person on NAUT's record or a confirmed one in the cited reports.
  • Most of the 458 rounds are too small to sell into. The median disclosed round is $150,000 and 389 of the 454 are under $1M, so a seat-based or retainer product has a narrow target set in this sector.
  • Freshness favours 2 names. Wizzwoods (18 November 2025) and SHRAPNEL (13 August 2025) are the most recent of the 11, and NAUT's gaming rows hold 6 rounds dated in 2026, the largest a $5M seed.
How a BD team can work this list
  1. Start with the 11 big rounds$177.5M of the $697.8M disclosed sits in 11 rounds, from Balance at $30M to MetaCene at $10M.
  2. Set the token sales aside314 of the 458 rounds are IDO or IEO sales with a $150,000 median, so the budget is rarely there.
  3. Find the decision makerNAUT lists Vlad Korolev as Co-Founder and CEO at Gunzilla Games and Arif Kazi as Head of BD at Mirror World.
  4. Open on a channel they answerEach NAUT person page says which channels NAUT holds for them.

What this tells a crypto gaming founder

  • Web3 gaming investors on these rounds are a thin, repeat-light set. The 7 of the 11 rounds with a backer row hold 31 rows naming 29 distinct firms and people, and 2 names appear twice: Animoca Brands at Balance and MetaCene, OKX Ventures at Mirror World and CARV.
  • $10M is the ceiling for most gaming rounds here, $30M the top. Balance and Gunzilla Games sit at $30M each, and 4 of the 11 rounds are exactly $10M.
  • Equity labels carry the money, gaming token sales carry the count. The 23 rounds labelled seed, Series A or another equity type total $138.5M with a $4.0M median, against $63.2M across 312 disclosed IDO and IEO sales.
How a founder can use this list
  1. Match your stage to a labelThe 23 equity-labelled rounds total $138.5M at a $4.0M median, so a $4M ask is the middle of that set.
  2. Shortlist the repeat backersAnimoca Brands and OKX Ventures each sit in 2 of the 11 rounds at $10M or more.
  3. Read who joined the $30M roundsBalance has 14 backer rows on NAUT, including Amber Group, DWF Labs and Galaxy Interactive.
  4. Reach the partnerEach investor's NAUT page lists its team and the people to contact.

How to reach the decision makers

Every company, investor and person above links to its NAUT page, which carries the team, the backer rows and the channels NAUT holds. 7 of the 11 companies have a person named in this report, and Wizzwoods and CROSS hold no row with a founder or chief executive title, so the route into those 2 is the company page and the X account on it. CARV and MetaCene had no team read for this report, so start from their company pages.

Related reading on NAUT: Animoca Brands portfolio: 135 companies, 48 in gaming and GambleFi platforms: 36 on NAUT, 16 with a live token.

Can you pull this data through the NAUT API?

Yes. GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects?sector=Gaming returns every Gaming-tagged project in NAUT's database, which is the pool the 458 rounds above were read from, and GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects/gunzilla-games returns 1 of those companies with its team. For the backer side, GET https://api.naut.so/v1/investors/okx-ventures returns 1 fund with its team and its portfolio rows, each carrying company, roundType, amountUsd, announceDate and isLead. Every call is a GET with Authorization: Bearer $NAUT_KEY and costs 5 credits, documented at https://naut.so/docs/api with plans at https://naut.so/pricing. The verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn of the people named here unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so you can start a 7-day trial and reveal them.

Crypto gaming funding FAQ

How much do crypto gaming startups raise?

Across 458 rounds announced since 1 January 2024 at 144 live Gaming-tagged companies on NAUT, the 454 that disclosed an amount total $697.8M, the median round is $150,000 and 389 of the 454 are under $1M. 14 rounds reached $10M or more, and the largest at a company whose own description is a game, a studio or a gaming chain is $30M.

Which crypto gaming startup raised the most since 2024?

2 rounds tie at $30M on NAUT's record: Balance on 4 September 2024 and Gunzilla Games on 26 March 2024. The Sandbox is next at $20M on 6 June 2024, then SHRAPNEL at $19.5M on 13 August 2025.

Who invested in crypto gaming startups since 2024?

7 of the 11 rounds at $10M or more carry backer rows on NAUT, 31 rows naming 29 distinct firms and people, including Amber Group, Animoca Brands, DWF Labs, Galaxy Interactive, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Morningstar Ventures, Solana Foundation, Shima Capital, Sanctor Capital, OKX Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Galaxy Digital (Ventures) and YieldGuild. Animoca Brands and OKX Ventures each appear in 2 of the 11.

How many crypto gaming rounds were token sales?

314 of the 458 rounds since 1 January 2024 are typed IDO or IEO on NAUT, 68.6% of the count, and the 312 of them with a disclosed amount total $63.2M. The IDO median is $200,000 and the IEO median is $50,000.

Where can I find these crypto gaming founders and their contact channels?

On NAUT. The 11 companies in the ranked list each have a NAUT page with their team, and people such as Brian Xiong at Balance, Vlad Korolev at Gunzilla Games and Robby Yung at The Sandbox have their own pages; GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects/balance returns 1 company with its team. Their verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so you can start a 7-day trial and reveal them.

Sources

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