Bankrupt HQ Trivia’s NFT reinvention scores $7 million seed round

NFT

The founding father of the as soon as widespread HQ Trivia sport that crashed and burned is amongst buyers that stumped up $7 million for the same challenge.

Buyers within the seed spherical embody HQ Trivia co-founder Rus Yusupov, ParaFi Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Dephi Digital, Uniswap Ventures, Collab+Foreign money, Gmoney, Milk Highway, Prepared Participant DAO and Zedd, co-founder of Magic Eden.

HQ Trivia, which rose to prominence in 2018, met a sticky finish lower than two years later, declaring chapter as presenters drank and swore over the past reside broadcast. The product failed as a result of it was glitchy and misplaced cash. An acquisition provide to maintain it alive additionally fell by means of. Within the midst of the drama, co-founder Colin Kroll, who had confronted allegations of inappropriate conduct towards ladies, died in 2019 of an unintentional drug overdose. Trouble Kroll and Yusupov had beforehand labored at Twitter and Vine.

The sport was free to obtain and play. A reside presenter would ask 12 a number of alternative questions and anybody who answered all of them accurately would win a part of the sport’s prize fund. Throughout its lifespan it gave away $6 million in money prizes. 

Now, Yusupov is backing a challenge that reinvents HQ Trivia as Web Sport, a crypto-based twist on the unique mannequin, the corporate informed The Block.

The primary season launched in March with 8,000 gamers minting $2.2 million value of NFTs to achieve entry to the sport. With these proceeds, the enterprise bought greater than $1 million in NFT prizes voted on by the gamers, together with gadgets from high flight collections similar to Bored Apes, Mutant Apes, Doodles, Azukis and CloneXs.

Every staked “Sport Token” NFT allowed participation in 5 video games unfold over 5 days in what the enterprise referred to as a “Squid Sport-like” competitors. These remaining after 5 video games received a “Metaverse Entry Card NFT,” which gave house owners free entry to all future challenge occasions and unique mini video games. The highest 100 gamers by factors every received a blue-chip NFT from the prize pool.

Through the NFT, a participant’s rank and rating may be offered to a different participant.

 “Not like most tasks, our ‘utility’ and most important KPI is enjoyable,” Jordan Lejuwaan, co-founder and CEO, stated in a press release. “The experiences we create are an emotional rollercoaster for everybody that performs. The unanimous response from Season 1 was that it was essentially the most enjoyable folks had ever had in web3.”

As for the way it’s completely different to HQ Trivia? “Trivia questions can solely be thrilling for thus lengthy,” Lejuwaan informed The Block. “Our mannequin features a buy-in. HQ Trivia did not actually have a income mannequin — it needed to preserve rising the prize pool as usership went up.”

Bear market battles

Web Sport: Season 2 “Bear Market Battle” launches on Sept. 12 and can be hosted by NFT influencer Gmoney and Clubhouse comedy present host Leah Lamarr. Season 2 options six new video games to happen between Sept. 12 and Sept. 23.

Lejuwaan informed The Block in an unique interview that future seasons of the sport will purpose to make it extra accessible to individuals who don’t personal or perceive cryptocurrencies, with a decrease bar for entry, noncustodial wallets for prizes and funds in {dollars}. 

“We’re constructing with the categorical objective of onboarding folks to web3,” he added. “For season 3, folks might not even remember they’re utilizing one thing constructed with crypto.”

Lejuwaan and his co-founder Krish Jagirdar are additionally set to permit different NFT tasks to make use of the video games they’ve constructed on the platform for their very own communities.

“It is a new-generation engagement device,” stated Jagirdar. “The purpose is to offer a deeper type of engagement for communities.”