Faraway, a blockchain gaming startup based in Miami, has closed a $21 million Series A funding round to support the launch of its Solana-based live multiplayer game.
The funding round was co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and FTX with participation from a16z, Sequoia Capital, Pantera Capital, Jump Capital, and Solana. This brings the total funding raised by Faraway to $30 million. Amy Wu, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, referred to the firm’s reasons to lead its second round by stating:
“Lightspeed is searching for the industry’s most promising teams to bring the next 100M users to web3, and that is likely in gaming. We are still at the beginning of the blockchain gaming era and we’re about to see teams like Faraway catapult gaming into the next wave of what’s possible.”
Founded back in July of this year, Faraway seeks to unlock the potential blockchain technology represents to create player-driven decentralized game economies. It started fulfilling this mission with Mini Royale: Nations, the first live multiplayer game to launch on the Solana Network. The game can be instantly played from a web browser without the need for third-party clients being required, removing entry barriers historically associated with blockchain games. Alex Paley, Faraway CEO, said about this mission:
“Blockchain technology will unlock the potential for truly player-driven, open economies and will usher in the next wave of gaming and virtual worlds. Our goal for both current and future games is to create extremely fun and social games with open economies, giving players true ownership over their in-game assets and a true voice in how the game evolves over time. We’re fortunate to have found such great partners who not only understand the potential of Web3 across various markets, but are actively driving businesses forward in this space.”
With blockchain becoming increasingly relevant in the gaming industry, developers are looking to take advantage of the benefits the technology provides. While the Ethereum network has dominated the blockchain gaming scene since its launch, third-gen networks like Solana, Cardano, and Polkadot have gained ground over the past years. Now, Faraway is looking to become a major contributor to the growth of the Solana Network, which has already positioned itself as a major Ethereum competitor.
