The venture capital (VC) and innovation incubator of Binance, Binance Labs, has invested in Hong Kong-based MOBOX, a gaming metaverse platform, the company said in a statement on Friday.
MOBOX is a cross-platform gaming metaverse that combines automated optimised DeFi yield farming and gaming non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to create a GameFi Metaverse. Within the metaverse of MOBOX, also known as MOMOverse, players can create content or enjoy others' creations on any device. The MOBOX team has created a unique ecosystem for developers, players and NFT collectors who are rewarded for sharing and enjoying the platform, the statement said.
The financial details of the investment were undisclosed at the time of publishing.
Founded in April 2021, MOBOX is a blockchain gaming ecosystem built on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) that combines of DeFi Yield Farming and Gaming NFTs to create a free-to-play and play-to-earn GameFi Metaverse, the MOMOverse.
In six months, MOBOX has launched three NFT games, attracting over eight lakh users. In the process, more than 200 million NFT trades taken place, and over 10 lakh unique NFTs have been minted on BSC. MOBOX is planning to integrate the MOMO World game as the first metaverse to launch on the Binance Mini Programme and utilising Binance Pay, the statement said.
Investment from Binance Labs will be utilised to accelerate the development of MOMOverse and MOMO Chain, complete its player-created Decentralised Autonomous Guild (DAG), build its Game Creator and NFT Creator tools, onboard talented Game Studios and Intellectual Property and expand it’s unique retail NFT Mystery Boxes strategy, the statement further said.
MOBOX has also set up an incubation fund in collaboration with Binance NFT Marketplace on the decision committee METAfund, to educate, help and advise developers on blockchain gaming. The fund will be used to assist game developers in bringing their titles to the blockchain and MOMOverse.
MOBOX will also be the first metaverse to integrate with the Binance ecosystem, utilising many of the Binance tools such as Binance Mini Program, Binance Pay and Binance NFT Marketplace.
“With the team experienced in developing and operating social gaming platforms, we believe that MOBOX can suggest a game-changing gaming platform and user experiences to develop the gaming platform sector even more,” said Bill Chin, the Head of Binance Labs Fund.
Binance Labs is the VC arm of crypto exchange Binance, which is owned by Binance Holdings Ltd.
Founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao and Yi He, Binance Holdings Ltd is the operator of one of the world's largest crypto exchanges Binance. According to a Wall Street Journal report published in Mint a week ago, Binance has no head office or formal address, lacks licenses in countries where it operates.
It also acquired the Indian crypto exchange WazirX. Meanwhile, WazirX was under investigation for suspected violation of foreign exchange regulations involving transactions worth 27.90 billion rupees ($381.93 million).
Binance Labs identifies, invests and empowers viable blockchain entrepreneurs, startups, and communities, financing industry projects that help grow the larger blockchain ecosystem.
Over past few months, it has made investments in Decentralised Exchange Biswap; Melos Studio, a platform for music-based NFT and metaverse platform SecondLive.
In September, multi-blockchain omnichannel interoperability protocol firm Layerzero raised a $6 million (around Rs 45 crore) funding round co-led by Binance Labs and Multicoin Capital.