The chess-focused subsidiary of Animoca Brands, Anichess, announced on Thursday that a $1.8 million funding round had concluded.
According to a statement from Anichess, Sfermion and Amber Group led the round, with participation from Aspen Digital, Fenbushi Capital, SNZ Capital, and other parties.
The company plans to use the money raised to finance team growth, marketing campaigns, and game development.
“With its popularity, accessibility, and incredible strategic depth, chess is a classic game that has stood the test of time,
“One of the benefits of a game whose appeal is measured in centuries is the sophistication and passion of its community, and we are thrilled for Anichess to showcase our new and updated interpretation of the game of kings in partnership with Chess.com,” said Yat Siu, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands.
A joint venture between Animoca Brands and the international online chess platform Chess.com is the development of the Web3 game Anichess.
By adding spells that unlock new gameplay options and forces players to reconsider conventional chess rules as they delve into the vast world of the gameboard, it offers a fresh tactical take on the timeless game of chess.
In order to create an experience that makes chess more interesting and available to everyone, Anichess closed a $1.5 million seed round in 2023 that was oversubscribed.
Launching its player-versus-environment (PvE) daily chess puzzles in January 2024, Anichess has since attracted over 1 million registered players and maintained an active user base of 150,000 daily users who have solved over 50 million chess puzzles between them.
The first season of Anichess’ leaderboard went live on March 11, 2024, and it ranked players according to the points they earned from completing daily puzzles and gathering Orbs of Power that they earned from playing games and attending social events.
In the second quarter of 2024, the online player-versus-player (PvP) game mode is anticipated to debut.
“We’re excited to support Animoca Brands and Chess.com with the roll-out of Anichess, which represents an exciting foray into Web3 gaming for the timeless and global classical game,” said Dan Patterson, general partner of Sfermion.
He stated that player-owned and community-driven gaming is the way of the future. He thinks Anichess has the ability to bring tens of millions of players into that future with the help of Web3 communities like Mocaverse and the 150 million+ members of Chess.com’s current community.
