Ethlas

Ethlas offers a play-to-earn (P2E) GameFi metaverse built on the Polygon blockchain, which enables players to participate in a variety of games, create in-game items and NFTs, and buy and sell virtual items on its marketplace. The company aims to follow Epic Games’ playbook in terms of building engaging games with scalable platform modules that can be used independently by third-party developers, called Ethlas Web3 Services (EWS).

Web3 games developed include Battle Showdown, a cross-IP platform shooter game where partner NFT projects are able to plug and play their NFTs into the game. This allows users of different communities to engage in PvP or host tournaments against each other. Users can utilize ReadyNFT, an AI-powered plug-and-play gaming solution, to turn their NFT into in-game avatars. In May 2023, the company acquired PokPok, a gamified options trading program, to offer a broader range of gaming experiences to consumers. This led to the launch of a Web3 semi-idle, pokemon-style P2E game (titled “PokPok”) where users manage their chicken NFTs by minting, feeding, harvesting, and farming. 

The company also developed two Web2.5 games, which include Komo Valley (a virtual pet simulator) and My Pizza Story (an idle resource management game).

Key customers and partnerships

As of January 2024, Battle Showdown had over 100,000 downloads on the Google Play Store.

In April 2023, the company partnered with DeFi Kingdoms to explore experiences that will help onboard and educate users about blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi) through gamified experiences.

Funding and financials

In March 2022, Ethlas raised USD 6 million in an extended seed funding round co-led by Dragonfly Capital, Makers Fund, and Yield Guild Games Southeast Asia. The round followed the initial USD 2.7 million in seed funding, raised by Sequoia Capital India and other investors in February 2022, and Ethlas’ sale of all 8,337 units of its genesis “Komo” NFT series in mid-March 2022.

The fresh funds were raised to accelerate hiring and new user acquisition, with plans to add 80 team members in roles such as data science, product, design, game development, and blockchain engineering to its team of 20 based in Singapore, the Philippines, and the US.