Welcome, Laguna
The intersection of blockchain technology and gaming has opened up an array of new possibilities for game design and player experience. Web3 promises a new gaming toolkit enabling value creation to be more elegantly shared across developers, players, creators, and members of the gaming community.
With over $10B of NFT volume traded in Q3 2021 alone, there is early evidence consumers want to own and participate in the Web3 ecosystem - particularly games. In parallel, community has become a core part of the overall gaming experience as evidenced by the steady growth of Discord to almost 400M registered users. And at the intersection of the two, DAO treasuries have shown explosive growth and are now managing over $10B as of June 2021.
Amidst the grand visions and cutting edge new technologies however, there is always one hard truth when it comes to games: they have to be fun to play above all else. We believe teams with deep gaming backgrounds while understanding the intricacies of Web3 communities will create compelling new gaming franchises for the next generation. That is why we are so excited to back Laguna Games.
Laguna was founded in 2020 by a team with a rare mix of both extensive game development backgrounds and deep blockchain experience. The team have worked together for a decade and have produced multiple titles as a team. Over this time they have built a sophisticated technology backbone to deliver multiple titles at scale. Transcend have known the Laguna leadership team for many years and are delighted to finally be able to work together to realize their ambitious new vision in blockchain gaming.
Their first game, Crypto Unicorns, aims to build a digital nation with a focus on social gameplay, player ownership, and in-depth world building. The game is a pet collecting and farming simulation game where players can breed, buy and collect Unicorns as NFTs. These Unicorns can be farmed, and used in battle, jousting, racing and in RPGs. Players can also buy land which is purposefully designed to promote real-time social gameplay with live events. They have already grown a highly engaged community and have an ambitious roadmap to create long-lasting IP.
We look forward to partnering with the Laguna team and encourage you to consider doing so as well. They are hiring!
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About Transcend Fund
Transcend is a top performing early stage venture capital firm that partners with the boldest founders in the industry to collaboratively build the future of interactive entertainment.
Founded in San Francisco by gaming veterans, the Transcend portfolio features a preeminent group of high growth digital entertainment companies around the world.
More information about Transcend can be found on our website. Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest news from around the Transcend ecosystem.
About Shanti Bergel
Shanti is the founding partner of Transcend and a 30 year game industry veteran.
His global operating experience spans every major platform and business model transition of the last several decades and is animated by a career-long fascination with how changes in technology and distribution affect products, services, and communities.
Shanti is a recognized member of the Techcrunch List, speaks fluent Japanese, and is a frequent speaker on early stage investment, M&A, and strategic partnerships in digital entertainment.