Web3 game publisher Jungle has recently raised $6 million in seed funding. The capital raising was led by BITKRAFT Ventures and Framework Ventures, with several other firms, including Delphi Digital, 32bit Ventures, Karatage and Stateless Ventures, participating.
The Brazilian startup — founded by Joao Beraldo, Giulio Ferraro and Lucas Kertzman — announced that it would use the recently acquired funds to expand its team and speed up the development of its first game, a mobile shooter game featuring NFTs.
Jungle also plans to acquire existing intellectual property rights from traditional video games and adapt their characters instead of building the game from the ground up.
Jungle has yet to reveal the title of its debut game. However, it is scheduled for release this year and aims to reach a global audience, including previously untapped markets.
The company further said that the game would allow players to own and trade in-game assets, thereby introducing the notion of digital ownership and free market economics into the mobile gaming space.
“Our strategy is to identify mobile games, either already live or in the process of being launched, which have the potential to be successfully converted to Web3-first titles and become dominant titles within their genre in the blockchain gaming space.”
Joao Beraldo, co-founder and CEO at Jungle
Projections, goals for Web3 gaming industry
Jungle CEO Beraldo said in a press release on Monday that his company is committed to developing hybrid games that prioritize mobile accessibility and incorporate blockchain technology.
To fully unlock the potential of Web3 gaming, Beraldo mentioned that developers must create games that attract players with a quality product experience and keep them engaged with “the open economy.”
Beraldo explained that his firm’s approach also includes identifying mobile games currently available or under development. He is of the opinion that these games should have the potential to be easily converted into Web3-based titles and can become the top games in their respective categories within the blockchain gaming space.
“We’re looking for the blue spots in a soon-to-be red ocean,” Beraldo said.
He said Jungle aims to avoid areas where the competition is already established and focus on the genres where they can gain an advantage and secure a win.
Beraldo stressed that the industry’s current inverse model would not result in widespread adoption. Therefore, improvements are needed to reach new audiences.
A partner at BITKRAFT Ventures, Carlos Pereira, expressed his excitement about co-leading the funding round. Pereira praised Jungle’s approach to Web3 game creation, which involves distributing games at an “accelerated” pace.
Citing prior experience with one of the largest mobile game companies in the region, he voiced confidence in the team’s ability to put Web3 on the map in Latin America.
Meanwhile, Framework Ventures director Brandon Potts said that Jungle’s approach highlights the fiercely competitive nature of the video game industry. He emphasized how poor timing can influence “market penetration” regardless of game quality.
Potts also mentioned that acquiring and optimizing pre-existing games was a “very interesting” approach.
“By leveraging underutilized intellectual property, we believe Jungle can avoid reinventing the wheel when it comes to web3 game development, allowing it to quickly deploy and adapt in this new, fast-growing ecosystem,” he said.
Brazilian market
Jungle’s funding is evidence of Brazil’s recent growth in in-app spending. The country witnessed a 20 percent surge in in-app expenditures in 2022, amounting to $1.134 billion, up from $1.37 billion in 2021.
Per a recent report by Data.ai, this impressive growth led the country to surpass Saudi Arabia and Italy and reach the 11th spot in the world’s most valuable app market.
In addition, Brazil’s app downloads increased from 10.3 billion to 10.6 billion in 2022. It remained the world’s fourth-largest market for app adoption, trailing behind the United States, India, and China.
Brazil maintained its position as the second-largest market for app usage time, averaging 5.2 hours per day — slightly less than the previous year’s 5.3 hours.
The report confirmed that Brazil is one of only five countries with an average of more than five hours of app usage.
