Azra Games Secures $42.7 Million In Series A Funding Led By Pantera Capital

According to Blockworks, Azra Games, a gaming studio focused on creating role-playing games for mobile platforms, has announced a Series A funding round of $42.7 million. The round was led by Pantera Capital with participation from a16z Crypto, a16z Games, and NFX. The studio was founded by Mark Otero, a former Electronic Arts executive. The funding will be used to accelerate the growth of Azra Games and advance its various projects, including its flagship game, currently code-named 'Project Legends.' The studio also plans to integrate blockchain technology into its games. Arianna Simpson from a16z Crypto commented on the potential of Azra Games, stating that the team has the vision to lead the fourth generation of mobile RPG games by combining new gaming formats with digital ownership through blockchain technology. In other funding news, Hyve, a secured network on Symbiotic’s ecosystem, announced a $1.85 million pre-seed round as it exited stealth mode. The round was led by Lemniscap, with participation from Paper Ventures and Frachtis. Hyve's CEO, Douwe Fassen, emphasized the need for robust, scalable, and secure infrastructure in the Web3 landscape, highlighting the challenges current infrastructure faces in keeping up with modern applications. Other notable funding rounds include Blockstream raising $210 million in convertible note financing led by Fulgur Ventures. Crypto derivatives exchange Bitnomial announced a $25 million Series C round led by Ripple, aiming to launch a US perpetual futures trading platform. Gaming startup PiP raised $10 million in seed funding led by Exinity, and Layer secured $6 million in a seed round led by 1kx, with participation from Fabric Ventures, Arrington Capital, and others.