Web3 game infrastructure startup Lysto bags $12 million from Tiger Global, Hashed, others

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Web3 game infrastructure startup Lysto on August 10 announced that it has raised over $12 million financing from a clutch of marquee investors such as Tiger Global, Hashed, Beenext, Square Peg and Better Capital, as blockchain gaming gains steam in the country.

Web3 is dubbed to be the next iteration of the Internet, which will be decentralised and run on blockchain.

Angel investors such as former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, Pantera Capital partner Paul Veradittakit, Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and CoinGecko co-founders Bobby Ong and TM Lee also participated in the funding round.

The startup had previously raised a $3 million seed funding from Beenext, Better Capital and several angel investors in November 2021.

Founded in 2021 by Sadiq Ahamed, Lysto is building tools that aims to standardise gamer credentials and reputation across games, platforms and chains through 'Proof of Play Protocol (PoPP)', which was announced on the sidelines of the ongoing Korea Blockchain Week 2022 at Seoul.

The startup said these PoPPs can be issued by games, tournaments or even auto-generated by gamers as trophies, game and social badges, and game-tester tokens among others.

It can also be shared with gamers via emails, APIs (Application Programming Interface), and AirDrops (a process through which developers distribute free coins or tokens to users as part of their marketing initiatives).

Gamers can showcase their PoPPs via a ‘Passport’, which acts like their public profile, it said.

"Through PoPP and Passport, Lysto is enabling the gaming ecosystem to standardise gamer reputation. We envision a world where billions of such on-chain attestations across games and tournaments can form the basic building block of gamers’ profiles. Leveraging this, we are on a mission to build the world's largest gaming community," said Ahamed. Lysto currently has a team of 25 people.

"We are excited by the interplay of gaming and crypto, especially when combined with this team's unique credentials and their passion to bring crypto to the masses." said Tushar Roy, Partner, Square Peg.

Several local companies including Dream11 parent Dream Sports, Nazara Technologies, nCore Games, Tegro are eyeing the Web3 gaming space in the country, amid growing adoption for blockchain in the country.

Founders say Web3 gaming could potentially provide better monetisation opportunities for game developers in India.