CyBall has raised $1.8 million in seed funding to build a soccer-themed, nonfungible-token (NFT)-based game with a player rewards model.
Bitkraft Ventures led the round with Animoca Brands, Ascensive Assets, Merit Circle, Yield Guild Games, GuildFi, Raydium, Coin98, SkyVision Capital, and others.
The funding will be used to scale the team to accelerate the expansion of CyBall and further build out the scholarship system, CyLoans. The company uses a play-to-earn model made popular by Sky Mavis and its Axie Infinity game, where players have to pay upfront to join a game but can get scholarships to defray that cost. Eventually, once players level up their collectibles, they can sell them for a profit.
CyBall hosted its Triple (initial game offering) IGO event occurring across three different platforms including BinanceNFT, CyBall.com, and GuildFi. CyBall currently sits as the top NFT collection of all-time on BinanceNFT.
“The team at CyBall is extremely honoured to introduce our amazing lineup of seed round backers, who will join us in pioneering this powerful movement within the GameFi industry,” said Tin Tran, cofounder of CyBall, in a statement. “Games have always been one of the most popular mediums for players, entertainers, creators, and innovators to perform, socialize and enjoy memorable experiences together, but games have yet to reach a more mainstream audience. We incorporated (soccer), the world’s most popular sport, to reach a new audience that might not have experienced the rewards of blockchain gaming.”
CyBall wants to pioneer the blockchain gaming movement by offering more utility and interactive game experiences than current play-to-earn games.
In CyBall, players can collect, trade, mentor, and ultimately battle with CyBlocs, the fantasy characters represented as collectible and tradeable NFTs. Gameplay combines different elements of strategy, simulation, and chance into the form of a competitive turn-based football card game, where players compete to see who can score the most goals. Existing CyBlocs can also mentor young CyBlocs to create the next generation of unique NFTs.
CyBall’s game ecosystem includes CyLoans, which streamlines the game’s player guild process to easily onboard scholars. This means that anyone who owns CyBlocs can loan them out to community members and split the revenue created. This automated scholarship system increases accessibility to the game, removes the barrier of entry of purchasing in-game assets, and will help to create income-generating opportunities for all players. Meanwhile, CyBall gets paid upfront by new players.
CyBall will soon release CyDex, a native Automated Market Maker (AMM)-based Decentralized Exchange (DEX). Players will be able to go onto CyDex to buy, sell, and provide liquidity for CyBall’s native tokens: $CBT and $CYB.
“The CyBall team impressed us as they are highly skilled and driven game developers, engineers, and crypto-experts who have created sophisticated gameplay experiences for play-to-earn users,” said Malte Barth, founder partner at Bitkraft, in a statement. “The team supports the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency by developing a play-to-earn game which, due to its football-inspired theme and familiar gameplay, easily attracts fans of a relatable, widely loved global sport. CyBall caters to a wide range of demographics, while also serving as the bridge between players and blockchain technology through the game’s CyBloc universe.”
CyBall — CyBloc Football, is a soccer-themed, NFT-based game with a play-to-earn model that allows users to collect, trade, mentor, and ultimately battle with CyBlocs.