Ola GG, the largest Hispanic Play-to-Earn community, raises USD 8 million from Arca, Galaxy Interactive and BITKRAFT among others.
The funds will be used to advance the adoption and positive societal impact of play-to-earn gaming for Hispanic communities around the world.
Ola GG, a regionally-focused subDAO of the world’s largest decentralized gaming guild, Yield Guild Games (YGG), announced today it has raised a seed investment of $8 million with participation from Galaxy Interactive, BITKRAFT, Arca, and others. The funds will be used to acquire yield-generating NFTs, deliver language-specific educational content, and advance the adoption of play-to-earn gaming for Spanish-speaking communities across Latin America (LATAM), America and Spain.
Other investors who participated in this seed round:
Com2Us, Cultur3d, Huobi Ventures, Spark Capital, BlockTower, IVC, Morningstar, Sangha Capital, Mentha, Actai Ventures, Valhalla Ventures, Polygon, Crypto.com Capital, The Venture City, YGG SEA, IndiGG, Bitscale, Fir Crypto Capital.
Ola GG is an extension of the main YGG DAO, which was launched amid the COVID-19 lockdowns in the Philippines. With 230 million active gamers in LATAM, Ola GG will onboard members of this community to blockchain games that reward players for the value they bring to virtual economies. The subDAO is taking a hyper-localized approach, leveraging the deep knowledge and local expertise of the co-founding team on how to reach remote players, secure partnerships for players to cash out their cryptocurrency rewards, and other services.
“Ola GG is on a mission to bring blockchain-based gaming to populations around the world that have struggled with unemployment and high inflation. We have already seen the positive impact of these games in other countries around the world, such as the Philippines, and how they can help families to be able to pay for their basic needs during a global pandemic. This is a mission that I am very proud to be part of, while working with a world-class team with a proven track record of success,” said David Nage, Principal, Arca.
“Ola is a strong combination of a team with regional focus and diverse talents across gaming, finance and crypto. We’re excited to see them bring that experience together and pursue the potential for guilds to distribute financial products and education to large segments of unbanked customers through gaming and fun.” said Carlos Pereira, Principal, BITKRAFT.
Ola GG is led by co-founders, Clara Bullrich and Nico del Pino. Clara is a partner at Alvarium Investments, an international multi-family office with assets under management of over $20 billion. She is also a Co-Founder & General Partner at TheVentureCity, a leading venture capital firm with over $150M raised investing in early-stage founders building in emerging tech hubs in Latam, Europe and US. Clara is an active investor in the Web3 sector, having made over 85 investments in digital assets and actively participating as a founding member or early contributor in several DAOs. With over 15 years working in emerging markets in the blockchain and fintech industries, Nico co-founded Liquid Meta, the first publicly traded liquidity mining operation in the world. Nico was a commercial partner at Bitex.la, a leading crypto-exchange in LATAM, and previously led Endeavor Global as Director of Fintech and VP of Sales at dLocal.
“The Hispanic market has many similarities to that of Southeast Asia, which is where YGG was born. With so many people living below the poverty line and lacking access to quality education, we are seeing an equally strong appetite for Play-to-Earn blockchain games and, with it, the adoption of cryptocurrencies. It is a huge market and there is a great opportunity to transform it into a great community”, said Clara Bullrich, co-founder of Ola GG.
Ola GG already has more than 3,000 scholarship players in its shared rewards program, where new players lend the assets needed to play and win on NFT, Axie Infinity and CyBall games. The guild also has plans to support Genopets, Karmaverse, StarSharks, and other NFT games in the near future. There is no initial cost or risk for the players who access these scholarships.
“YGG is expanding rapidly across the world by way of its subDAO model. This is a community-focused strategy that puts players first, and collectively, we now have more than 30,000 scholars globally whose lives have been positively impacted by play-to-earn games. I am confident that the team behind Ola GG will ensure that these life-changing opportunities are brought to Spanish-speaking gaming communities too,” said Gabby Dizon, co-founder, YGG. YGG participated in an earlier incubation round for Ola GG, helping to bootstrap the startup in its earliest days.
About Ola GG:
Ola GG is a strategic partner to Yield Guild Games (YGG) that is focused on serving the global Spanish-speaking market. Its goal is to create the largest community of Hispanic play-to-earn gamers, providing financial empowerment to over 530 million people in the spanish-speaking market, through the creation of a comprehensive and sustainable virtual economy. Ola GG leverages YGG’s infrastructure and assets to better serve communities within the region to join the Metaverse through localized investment, education and on-the-ground services.
About YGG:
Yield Guild Games (https://yieldguild.io/) is a decentralized gaming guild that pools investor funds to purchase yield-generating NFTs, and leverages players’ time and effort to optimise its community-owned assets for maximum utility and return. By merging NFTs and decentralized finance (DeFi), YGG’s mission is to create value for its members by developing the content and economy of virtual worlds and blockchain-based games.
A short documentary released in May 2021, Play-to-Earn: NFT Gaming in the Philippines, reveals the story of a rural community that earned an income through play-to-earn gaming amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The documentary, which was produced as a collaboration between Yield Guild Games, Delphi Digital and Emfarsis Consulting, demonstrates how NFTs and cryptocurrencies are providing transformative economic opportunities for people young and old in developing nations where jobs are lacking and crisis relief has been limited.
FACT SHEET: DATA OF INTEREST
- A large part of the world’s Spanish-speaking population lives in Latin America, being the region with the highest inflation: almost 12% average in 2021 and by 2022 almost 11% is expected. (Source: Statista)
- Venezuela and Argentina are the countries with the highest inflation, closing 2021 with an inflation of more than 50% both. Followed by Brazil with 10% and Mexico with 7.3%. (Source: Statista)
- Almost 50% of the population of Latin America is not banked or has access to financial products. This is the perfect setting for the rapid acceptance of cryptocurrencies, being one of the earliest adopters in the region.
- The Spanish-speaking market (LatAm -without Brazil-, Spain and US Hispanic) is made up of a population of 530 million people, which makes it a huge and attractive market.
- 70%+ Internet penetration in the Spanish-speaking market.
- The region has 230M active gamers per month (75% in Mobile). Increasing access to 5G mobile connection in the region will further accelerate the growth of mobile gaming, specifically Play-To-Earn gaming.
- The Latam gaming market reached $7.2 billion in 2021.
- A third of the population of Latin America (approx 600M) lives below the line of poverty and extreme poverty (living with less than USD2 per day).
- Latam has 3 countries in the global Top10 for crypto adoption: Venezuela (7), Argentina (9), and Colombia (10).
- Latam has 4 countries in the global Top 20 for NFT ownership; all above the US: Venezuela (8), Peru (9). Colombia (10), Argentina (12).
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