DAO Investing in NFTs Raises $1.3M From Crypto VCs

A decentralized newcomer to non-fungible token (NFT) investments has raised $1.3 million from a smattering of well-heeled veterans of crypto venture capital.

Yield Guild Games (YGG), the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) with a penchant for NFTs, raised the funds from Delphi Digital, Scalar Capital, BlockTower Capital, gumi Cryptos Capital, Ascensive Assets and Youbi Capital.

YGG will use the funds to improve its protocol for distributed investing in the burgeoning NFT scene, the startup said. As a DAO, YGG pools investor assets for the purpose of betting and then profiting on NFTs, sharing the proceeds with backers. Its focus is on NFTs that intersect with the gaming space.

"Just like real estate, virtual economic activities of games will occur in virtual lands," a spokesperson for the project told CoinDesk via email. "As virtual land is scarce, demand for it within blockchain games will increase in value over time."

DAOs have begun speculating on NFTs as the token type explodes in prominence. FlamingoDAO, a competitor in the space, recently spent 605 ETH ($761,889 at purchase) on a CryptoPunk NFT.

"Scalar invested in YGG because we believe they will bring in a wave of new people from all over the world to crypto through play-to-earn gaming," Scalar Capital Managing Director Linda Xie said in a statement. "YGG will enable gamers to become investors with the guild purchasing land and tokens in games that they actively participate in."

The YGG team recently spent $100,000 on virtual land in Axie Infinity.

"Our mission here at YGG is to bring players into the Metaverse," the team wrote in a blog post. "Part of that mission involves investing in the economic future of these virtual worlds while helping our guild members earn a living."