Mantle EcoFund, inaugurated through a Mantle Governance vote in July 2023 as one of the largest ecosystem funds of its kind with a catalyzed capital pool of $200 million and operated by Mirana Ventures, today announced it has completed deploying $5M in investments as part of its second capital call. Core to Mantle Ecosystem, the seven newly inducted projects within Mantle EcoFund portfolio underscore Mantle’s belief in the transformative power of SocialFi and gaming applications to onboard the next billion users to web3.
Seven Mantle Ecosystem SocialFi and gaming projects have received fresh funding — MetaCene, builders of the next-generation blockchain MMOPRG homeland for players; Blade Games, the first modular ZK on-chain game engine; Co-Museum, a community-driven cultural collective devoted to pioneering communal artwork ownership; Fingerlabs, the web3 subsidiary of FSN, a listed South Korean digital marketing leader; L3E7, a game development firm behind the cyberpunk virtual world mirroring geographical nodes of Earth itself; and DreamOS, a web3-native operating system simplifying the user experience within crypto.
The latest slate of Mantle EcoFund recipients propels growth and momentum of SocialFi and gaming innovations on Mantle.
A New World Awaits on MetaCene
MetaCene is building a next generation blockchain MMORPG homeland for players, presenting a surreal post-apocalyptic society where survivors interact with diverse NFTs to redefine civilizations. Player-centric entertainment is redefined through innovative Players vs Environment (PVE) and Players vs Players (PVP) gameplay, social guild DAO governance, sustainable economic systems, underpinned by a robust tech stack and talented team of in-game editors. MetaCene is gearing up to release their governance token and launch a new game playtest. In addition, the project is preparing for the official release of a Chrome Mini-Game, all with the support of the Mantle EcoFund.
Henry Ferr, CMO of Metacene, stated, “MetaCene is thrilled to partner with Mantle. We are already leveraging Mantle’s robust platform to build some of our features, benefiting from its low fees, fast transactions, and exceptional security.”
Sharpening Web3’s Gaming Edge With Blade Games
Blade Games is an on-chain gaming infrastructure provider, working on the WebAssembly and zkWASM tech stack. Games built with its ZK game engine can run their game logic in a zkVM, and settle game results as ZKP on L2s. Its core game, Dune Factory, is a fusion of tower defense and factory game, with features of PvE, PvP and raids / arbitrage gameplay. Blade Games’ team comes from Matrixport, Shanda Games, Tencent and Konami. The team raised a 2.4M seed round co-led by PTC Crypto, IOSG ventures, with participation from Animoca Ventures, Foresight, Mantle EcoFund, Puzzle Ventures, Public Work, Formless and others.
Alex, Founder of Blade Games, stated, “Blade Games is excited to have Mantle participate in our seed round. This partnership will boost the adoption of Blade Game’s ZK game engine, enabling the emergence of more genuinely playable and enjoyable onchain games. We look forward to pushing the boundary of on-chain games together with Mantle.”
Curating the Future of Art Culture With Co-Museum
Co-Museum is a community-driven cultural collective dedicated to pioneering communal ownership of the most significant artworks and artifacts, both digital and physical. Backed by Mantle EcoFund funding, Co-Museum will redefine access to a trillion-dollar asset class by building an entirely new kind of cultural institution that is truly for everyone.
Chaw Weiyang, Founder of Co-Museum, stated, “Mantle’s focus on onboarding more people into web3 is one that we strongly resonate with at Co-Museum. I am excited about the opportunity to build on Mantle and bring accessibility and scalability to art and culture.”
Connecting Content, Creators and Consumers in Web3 With Fingerlabs
Fingerlabs is a web3 company under FSN, a listed South Korean digital marketing leader. Xclusive, their flagship content distribution hub facilitating direct connections between creators and consumers, has released their first intellectual property (IP) on Mantle titled “Beginning ≠ Youth”, a BTS-inspired drama in partnership with Korean media giants HYBE and CRM Media. Mantle ventures deeper into the world of web3 entertainment meets content distribution with Mantle EcoFund funding for Fingerlabs.
Sangseok David Lee, CEO of Fingerlabs, stated, “As Mantle Network continues to expand its influence within the blockchain sector, particularly in the realm of entertainment content, we anticipate extensive collaborative opportunities between Mantle and Fingerlabs. This year, we will exclusively premiere innovative content, including ‘Begins ≠ Youth,’ on Xclusive. This initiative is poised to lead a significant transformation in the global content industry.”
Mapping the Future of AR Meets Web3 Gaming With L3E7
At the forefront of gaming, L3E7 introduces players to a cyberpunk virtual world mirroring Earth itself, made possible through cutting-edge location-based services and powered by their state-of-the-art rendering engine. The project is spearheaded by an exceptional team led by Yeo and Grey, whose portfolio includes over 50 successfully developed games since 2009, with credits for multiple AAA titles. With the support of Mantle EcoFund, L3E7 will launch its second NFT collection and more game tests in the near future.
Grey, Founder of L3E7, stated, “L3E7 is aiming to onboard more web2 users to web3 through its unique social gameplay and LBS elements. We see the huge market potential through games like Pokemon Go, which has 30 million daily active users, as even a small percentage of its user base is a big number.”
Streamlining the Crypto User Experience with DreamOS
DreamOS is an operating system built natively for web3. It’s a chain-agnostic, cross-platform environment for the end user to interact with tokens, dApps, and NFTs in an immersive manner. The platform includes several innovative features, including the Dream Store, a dApp platform that aids in discovery and protection against malicious websites, and an omnichain wallet interface for managing assets and interacting with DeFi across blockchains. With the support of Mantle EcoFund, DreamOS will launch MantleOS — an all-in-one portal for discovering what Mantle Ecosystem has to offer.
Dom, Founder of DreamOS, stated, “DreamOS simplifies the wallet experience drastically by providing an accessible, intuitive, and user-centric way to interact with your digital assets. DreamOS feels natural to use, like your Mac or PC, making it accessible to everyone — crypto-native or not.”
“We are thrilled to support the next generation of SocialFi and web3 gaming projects that will proliferate across Mantle Ecosystem and further expand the web3 community — transforming the way users meaningfully engage with the next iteration of the internet. The injection of fresh capital from Mantle EcoFund opens new avenues for growth strategies and networking opportunities for burgeoning founders, a pivotal instrument in Mantle’s mission to invigorate the mass adoption of token-governed technologies,” said David Toh, partner of Mirana Ventures.
MetaCene, Blade Games, Co-Museum, Fingerlabs, L3E7 and DreamOS join Mantle EcoFund’s existing slate of portfolio projects, including Merchant Moe, INIT Capital, Butter, Renzo, MUFEX,TsunamiX, LiquidX, Valent and Range Protocol.
About Mantle EcoFund
Mantle EcoFund is an ecosystem venture fund established by the Mantle community through DAO governance to help fuel the growth of Mantle. The fund aims to catalyze and manage a capital pool of $200 million, and be the “first money” into high quality and innovative early-stage projects building within Mantle Ecosystem. Mantle EcoFund is the one of the largest ecosystem funds of its kind in the space. Projects looking to build on Mantle are encouraged to reach out to Mantle EcoFund at https://www.mantle.xyz/ecofund
About Mantle
Mantle Ecosystem comprises an Ethereum layer 2 (L2) — Mantle Network, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) — Mantle Governance, one of the largest on-chain treasuries — Mantle Treasury, and an Ether (ETH) liquid staking protocol — Mantle LSP: all built on Ethereum. Mantle token ($MNT) is the unified product and governance token of the ecosystem.
Mantle’s first core product is Mantle Network, an Ethereum L2. Mantle Network strives to be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Mantle Network’s modular architecture separates transaction execution, data availability, and transaction finality into modules — which can be individually upgraded and adopt the latest innovations. Mantle Network is the first L2 to partner with ETH restaking protocol EigenLayer for the data availability module. By adopting a rollup architecture, Mantle Network is secured by Ethereum. As the world’s first DAO-spawned L2, Mantle Network is pioneering a vision for the mass adoption of token-governed technologies. The current mainnet version, Mantle Network Mainnet v2 Tectonic (Mantle v2 Tectonic), went live on March 15, 2024.
$MNT powers Mantle Network as its native gas token and ecosystem growth token, and serves as the governance token of Mantle Governance. All future Mantle products will likewise be initiated by the $MNT holder community through vote and powered by $MNT.
Mantle’s second core product is Mantle LSP, a permissionless and non-custodial ETH liquid staking protocol deployed on Ethereum L1 and governed by Mantle. Mantle LSP combines simple and modern design with robust risk management, and leverages extensive existing Mantle Ecosystem resources to deliver a highly rewarding experience and supercharges Mantle’s status as a yield powerhouse. Mantle Staked Ether ($mETH) serves as the value-accumulating receipt token of Mantle LSP.
To support the next-generation of innovators, builders, and developers, Mantle is growing its ecosystem via Mantle Grants Program and Mantle EcoFund, a catalyzed capital pool of $200M. Mantle’s Showcase Apps program lends additional support and publicity to ecosystem projects in categories such as real world assets (RWA).
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About MetaCene
MetaCene is building a next-gen blockchain MMORPG homeland for mass players. It presents a surreal post-apocalyptic society where survivors interact with diverse NFTs to redefine civilizations. MetaCene pioneers player-centric entertainment, governance, and creation through innovative PVE and PVP gameplay, robust technology infrastructures, social guild DAO governance, sustainable economic systems, and in-game AIGC editors. MetaCene is founded by gaming experts with 20+ years of industry experience from Shanda Games, Blizzard, Perfect World, and others. It envisages a multi-chain future from Rangers Protocol with real-time confirmation and super-low gas fees.
About Blade Games
Blade Games is the developer of an on-chain gaming studio intended to build trustless games and infrastructure. The company’s studio offers games that feature a fusion of tower defense and automation gameplay, and players can engage in base building, arbitrage, and PvP raiding to win rewards, enabling players to play fun and engaging games.
About Co-Museum
Co-Museum is a radically new cultural institution devoted to democratising ownership of some of the world’s masterpieces, protecting art in purpose-built viewing facilities, and creating a fully liquid and permissionless art market.
About Fingerlabs
Fingerlabs, a subsidiary of FSN, is dedicated to delivering premium K-Culture content through cutting-edge digital platforms, catering to the diverse tastes of global audiences.
About L3E7
L3E7 is a groundbreaking gaming platform that introduces an immersive Earth-like experience, powered by state-of-the-art location-based services. Our advanced rendering engine breathes life into a ‘Parallel World’ that caters to both traditional web2 and emerging web3 gamers. Here, you can embark on adventures, partake in battles, and freely interact in real-world shops to earn rewards, including in-game tokens and governance tokens. With an extensive roster of over 50 characters and the opportunity to explore more than 10,000 virtual cities, L3E7 redefines the landscape of online gaming.
About DreamOS
DreamOS is a new web3-native operating system that aims to improve the complex user experience within crypto. The platform includes innovative features such as an app store for dApps called the Dream Store that aids in discovery and protection against malicious websites. It also features an omni-chain wallet interface for managing cross-chain assets.