Homegrown mobile game startup rides NFT boom

MANILA  – A Philippine technology startup currently developing a blockchain-based mobile game is looking to grow its valuation to $200 million in the next three years, banking on the growing interest for nonfungible token (NFT) in the country.

Go Innov8 Technology Inc. founder Rommel Carlos, in an interview with Inquirer, said the company was valued at $15 million, a part of which came from his own pocket.

To reach his target valuation, the startup must rake in a capital infusion of at least 13 times its existing equity.

“I believe in my product. I won’t put too much effort, money and time on it if I don’t believe in my product,” he quipped.

The company, founded and registered in 2021, is currently alpha-testing its “GameFi” project titled “Arcus,” a first-person shooting mobile game.

GameFi—portmanteau of words “gaming” and “finance”—combines blockchain technology, NFT and game where users may earn tokens that have financial value. NFT is a form of digital asset that can be traded like equities.

Carlos said they were targeting to officially launch the mobile game by June. “We’re scaling the server,” he said.

“Given the statistics, once we launched this correctly … just getting 1 percent is actually a big win for the crypto space,” he said, estimating that mobile gamers were about 43 million. The startup founder also hinted at signing a partnership with one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges. However, he did not name which one yet.

“We will actually announce a big partnership [with a] very topnotch crypto company. We signed already the contract,” he said. INQ

###—###
#Kicker
Crypto partnership to be announced