AO Labs has raised $4.5 million for its Spacebar community-driven Web3 gaming platform through a token sale. Its backers are a who’s who of Web3 gaming.

AO Labs is a virtual studio started by gaming and tech veterans Joony Koo and Christy Choi. They believe that gaming will lead the way to Web3, the vision of a decentralized internet envisioned by blockchain believers. AO Labs are making a casual game that the community can help build, but they aren’t saying much about it yet.

Yield Guild Games led the round, with participation from 70 investors who include some of the biggest names in crypto and gaming. They include Gabby Dizon, CEO of YGG; Balaji Srinivasan and Sandeep Nailwal of Polygon; Jeff “Jiho” Zirlin of Axie Infinity maker Sky Mavis; and Kyu Lee of Com2uS.

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I think gaming will probably be the piece that actually engages all these different building blocks across crypto. That is why I am extremely bullish about building this game because it could be the gateway to drive mass adoption. It’s not just because the game is fun. It is because while playing the game, you will interact with all the different tools being built in this space. We will act as a point of interaction for all these people in crypto.

Christy Choi, Co-Founder at AO Labs

Spacebar is a space-themed casual game that integrates Web 3 tools, including a decentralized identification system, decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and game guilds. The company isn’t saying yet what kind of blockchain technology it will use.

AO Labs Raises $4.5M for Web3 Gaming Platform Spacebar Backed By Big Names  in GameFi - NFTgators

Spacebar truly believes that a game that is both fun and built together with the community can bring the mass adoption of Web 3 and crypto. Spacebar’s builder-only raise is an important first step in building a community-owned composable game.

Joony Koo, Co-Founder at AO Labs

Spacebar will launch its first game in the coming months. The team includes alumni from Binance, Kakao, Coupang, Com2uS, Disney and venture-backed startups. While they succeeded in raising a round, they aren’t yet ready to talk about what kind of game they are making. But the company is hiring.

Choi and Koo said they know that valuations for startups go down during a bear market, but the best things with cool technology can still raise money. The companies that make real games can thrive, and that’s what AO Labs wants to do.

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