DUBAI APRIL 3 2023 / EMURGO KEPPLE VENTURES (“EKV”) – EMURGO Kepple Ventures today announced an investment in South African gaming company, Skrmiish. Skrmiish is also their mobile “play-to-earn” app that enables gamers of every level to earn cash in every match they play, including the AAA (“high-profile) games they love. EKV joins Skrmiish’s $2.8m extended seed round.
The concept of “play-to-earn” is common in Web3 games, but not in traditional Web2 games, where most gamers lack the means to earn income, except for a limited number of E-sports players and others. Skrmiish offers a platform that allows ordinary gamers to earn money in their favorite Web2 AAA games, at their favorite time, 24/7.
As an example use case, Skrmiish is compatible with Epic Games’ highly popular game Fortnite. Once players have synced Skrmiish with their in-game accounts, the algorithm assesses their skill level through its player skill rating system. From there, players can set up challenges based on their assessed skill level and receive hundreds of personalized and on-demand challenges to complete. Other features include playing against each other via P2P, and tournaments where only the top players are eligible for prizes.
EKV’s investment in Skrmiish reflects the belief that its mission and business model are transformative in two ways. First, Skrmiish serves a global customer base from South Africa. Its target users are worldwide Web2 gamers beyond the borders of Africa. Skrmiish enriches the existing gaming experience for gamers by adding more excitement and increasing the ability of gamers to directly make an income irrespective of where they are located. Skrmiish is also innovative in the way it serves as a bridge between Web2 and Web3. There has been a divide between Web2 gamers, who genuinely enjoy playing high-quality games, and Web3 gamers, who play with the expectation of earning money. The approach of Skrmiish to onboard existing Web2 gamers and provide them with “play-to-earn” opportunities is the best way to connect Web2 and Web3 and to scale quickly by leveraging the existing global gaming market.
Skrmiish founder and Managing Director Chris Heaton emphasizes that the new partnerships with renowned VCs like EKV are going to accelerate the team’s ability to implement the Skrmiish economic value system and build a play-to-earn format for the majority of the world’s gamers.
“The ultimate goal is to grow Skrmiish into the go-to competitive app with digital banking for gamers globally. Skrmiish will enable every gamer in the world to earn in every match they play within the games they already love,” says Heaton. “This is a revolution in the accessibility to earn while playing games and democratizes the competitive esports and blockchain-based gaming industries. We’re fired up for 2023 with the addition of multiple game titles, taking the casual gamer experience to a new level of excitement that we hope will delight players around the world. We are thrilled to have EMURGO Kepple Ventures joining the extended round and our powerhouse cap table with the likes of LAV, BFF, GSR, Allan Gray, and Esquared.”
EKV believes that catalyzing the transition of Web2 users to the Web3 world as Skrmiish does is a crucial step to accelerating the sustainable and widespread adoption of Web3. EKV is thrilled to be a part of its journey.
About EMURGO Kepple Ventures
EMURGO Kepple Ventures is a joint venture between EMURGO Africa and Kepple Africa Ventures to provide investment-based support for Web3 startups in Africa. The mission of EMURGO Kepple Ventures is to create a better world by empowering businesses and people with a more transparent and efficient system backed by blockchain technologies. We aim to accelerate this transformation by creating more collaboration and synergies between Web2 and Web3 startups and catalyzing the capital flow from conventional businesses and financial institutions to Web3 startups in Africa. For more information, please visit https://ekv.emurgo.africa/
About Skrmiish
Targeting the billions of matches played every year and pioneering player-vs-house technology, Skrmiish is the world’s first play-to-earn app that allows gamers of all levels of skill to earn cash playing the AAA games they love. Skrmiish is enabling gamers to choose from hundreds of personalized & on-demand challenges to complete in their next match. Adding a layer of excitement & more importantly, giving them the ability to earn cash in every match. For more information, please visit https://skrmiish.gg/
