Murasaki, a game studio building decentralized games on the blockchain, has just closed a €1.5 million seed round led by Incubate Fund, one of the largest Japanese venture capital firms specializing in seed stage investing.
As Japanese and European serial entrepreneurs and developers operating out of The Netherlands, Murasaki is on a mission to disrupt the GameFi economy. We are currently witnessing a transformation of the gaming industry, with emerging technologies like the blockchain opening new doors and creating endless revenue opportunities for both players and creators. In true Web3 spirit, Murasaki aims to harness the power of community and make a future game engine available to anyone wanting to build blockchain titles.
One of the co-founders, Shunsuke Sasaki, is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor specializing as a game producer. In 2007, after two years, he left and founded Pokelabo Inc, a mobile gaming company. GREE, a Japanese mobile gaming giant, acquired Pokelabo in 2012 for $173.8m. Pokelabo produced some famous titles, such as SINoALICE, that are well- known worldwide. The core founding team from Pokelabo joins Murasaki to build multiple game titles.
With this €1.5 million investment led by Incubate Fund, Murasaki will be able to strengthen its commitment to developing the next generation of decentralized, community-powered games. Murasaki’s Cyberstella, an NFT-focused game with a new take on the play and earn model, is set for release in early 2023. Meanwhile, an NFT and official token launch will follow the beta version release in late 2022.
Sasaki elaborates: “The world of Cyberstella is set in the year 2222, two hundred years from now in cyberpunk city. The background is that humans began to expand their economic, social and military activities into space after initial explorations were built upon. The birth of interstellar exchanges and the beginning of the second era of voyages allowed the curiosity of humans to greatly accelerate the manifestation of greater possibilities to rapidly expand these very human activities.”
Shinnosuke Murata, Murasaki’s CEO & Co-Founder, said: “I was attracted to blockchain technology, which allows consensus building without racial or national boundaries, and founded Murasaki in February 2022. “
“This investment round is incredibly exciting for us, as it will allow us to further develop our assets and optimize the beta version of Cyberstella, adding new features, worlds, missions and environments. We are also planning to develop a subsequent title as well. We can’t wait for people to discover what playing a blockchain title is really like.”
Keisuke Wada at Incubate Fund said: “We are thrilled to partner with the Murasaki team, formed by two experienced Japanese entrepreneurs, Mr. Murata and Mr. Sasaki, in taking on the Game-Fi challenge. We look forward to transcending national borders and pioneering an ever-evolving frontier.”
About Murasaki
Murasaki is a game studio on a mission to build decentralized games and products on the blockchain, and create a new GameFi economy for the next generation of community-focused games.
About Incubate Fund
Incubate Fund is an independent venture capital firm with a competitive edge in seed stage investing. Having invested in more than 400 startups (including Gumi, bitFlyer, Coincheck, Thirdverse and Gamewith) through its affiliated funds, it is one of the largest venture capital firms in Japan specializing in pre- and post-launch seed stage companies.