VCs back $26m investment in Singapore blockchain player

US investors BlockTower Capital and Pantera Capital, and UK-based Kryptonite1, participated in the capital raise, which was structured as a digital token sale. Token launches allow investors to acquire virtual holdings in companies before they are commercially established. Like shares, the tokens are able to grow in value if operational success prompts increased investor demand.

The company said the offering sold out within four hours, with all contributions transacted via bitcoin, ether, zcash or other cryptocurrencies. The capital is expected to support technology development, the introduction of a larger suite of games such as roulette, and a test release of the platform by the end of the year.

Funfair claims to be the world’s fastest casino platform using ethereum, a dis-intermediated computational resource based on blockchain. The company aims to make online gambling fairer through proprietary security protocols that work by generating unpredictable sequences of data. It will license games to operators rather than operating them directly.

“Gambling is an obvious use case for blockchain tech, but hasn't yet been implemented in a user-friendly way,” Ari Paul, founder of BlockTower, said in a statement. “I'm looking forward to seeing Funfair change that."

Blockchain initially proliferated in the virtual currency sector as a means of securing digital financial distributions via decentralized databases that are considered highly resistant to hacking. However, the technology is being increasingly integrated into other business models. 

Last year, Chinese investment firm Huiyin Group launched a $20 million fund to invest in blockchain technologies. 

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
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• Singapore
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