Binance-backed web3 gaming startup Unagi gets funding to expand fantasy sports platform

techcrunch.com:

Web3 gaming company Unagi today announced a €4.7 million ($5 million) seed round of funding, as the French startup prepares to expand its NFT fantasy sports platform beyond football (“soccer”) and into the basketball realm.

Unagi, which doesn’t yet have its own website, was founded out of Paris by Charlie Guillemot, son of Ubisoft co-founder Yves Guillemot and formerly studio manager at Owlient, a free-to-play game studio acquired by Ubisoft back in 2011; and Remi Pellerin, also formerly of Owlient.

Both Guillemot and Pellerin left Owlient in 2021 to kickstart Unagi, serving as co-CEOs, and launched their first game last April.

Ultimate Champions, as their inaugural title is called, allows players to create and manage their own football teams using players from multiple clubs across the continent. To date, Unagi has inked deals with some 45 clubs in Europe, including current English Premier League title contenders Arsenal, and the games within Ultimate Champions are synchronized with real matches allowing gamers to earn rewards based on their chosen players’ real-world performances.

As a self-proclaimed web3 company, these rewards include an in-game currency called Champ Tokens that can be bought, earned and spent on the platform, as well as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) in the form of digital player cards that can be collected and sold. Unagi takes a 5% commission from all financial transactions on the platform.

Ultimate Champions digital cards Image Credits: Unagi

Unagi said that its user base has now flown past the 220,000 mark, a trajectory that led crypto giant Binance to invest $4 million in the startup back in November via its VC and accelerator off-shoot Binance Labs, though this constituted a private token sale, rather