Quick take:
- Seattle-based blockchain gaming startup Irrelevant Labs has raised $40 million from investors.
- The fundraising was led by leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
- The video game developer is creating a chicken fighter-themed blockchain game MechaFightClub.
Irrelevant Labs has completed a $40 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The Seattle-based blockchain game maker is building a chicken-themed fighter game, which the Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm backed in a $5 million seed round seven months ago.
Commenting on the fundraising Irreverent Labs CEO Rahul Sood said “We are raising now because [a16z] saw no reason to wait based on our overall traction.”
The $40 million fundraisings also attracted the participation of Solana Ventures, the VC arm of Solana Labs; Michael Ovitz, founder of Creative Artists Agency (CAA); Sonam Kapoor, a Bollywood star; and Infinity Ventures Crypto.
MechaFightClub is an online blockchain game that combines artificial intelligence and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Gamers are able to buy, sell, and trade using “mechabots” robotic chicken-themed fighters that resemble robots available on the Proof-of-Stake Solana blockchain.
All the “mechabots” are designed using NFT technology, giving them each uniqueness and rarity. The game utilizes the popular play-to-earn blockchain mechanism powered by a utility currency called Nuggets.
Nuggets can be used to purchase in-game assets like weapons, skins and characters. Players can also withdraw them to use within the extended Solana ecosystem.
Soon believes that gamers will relish the opportunity to own characters in the game, allowing them to build a relationship with them over time.
Irrelevant Labs has already amassed a community of more than 35,000 members that it will try to onboard to the game when it launches later this year.
“Our Discord is thriving and we have spent $0 on marketing. It’s all organic growth,” Soon said.
Commenting on her company’s participation in the latest funding round, Arianna Simpson, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said: “For all its lighthearted fun, Irreverent Labs is a deep technology company building advanced tech on top of a futuristic mecha-cockfighting game.”
Andreessen Horowitz is one of the leading GameFi and crypto investors within the blockchain space. The company recently led Yuga Labs’ gigantic $450 million funding round to build the BAYC creator’s Otherside metaverse.
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