Magic Eden launches venture capital fund for Web3 gaming arm Magic Ventures

Prominent Solana based NFT marketplace, Magic Eden announced the launch of its new venture capital funds - ‘Magic Ventures’, which will be focused primarily on investing in Web3 gaming.

The San Francisco-based Magic Eden will now fund its own games and expand its internal gaming division, Eden Games.
As part of its expansion plans, it also appointed Tony Zhao, formerly a key member in run gaming investing at Tencent, as the new head of gaming investments to help fund promising games and gaming infrastructure, which the company said will bolster the growth of Web3 gaming.

While working at Tencent, Zhao focused on investing in up-and-coming games, acquiring world-class studios, and forming strategic partnerships across the entire Tencent Games portfolio.

Zhao also mentioned that few investments are in progress. In an interview with Decrypt, he said that the investments will be ‘purely strategic in nature’ and assist ‘developers of NFT-powered video games rather than approach investments with the expectation of making a return on the funds.’

Joined by Zhao are other professionals in the gaming and Esports industry, including Yoonsup Choi, Harrison Chang, and Matt Biamonte. They will bring their expertise and knowledge in traditional gaming and NFTs will provide advisory and operation success to developers. 
Upon joining Magic Eden, gaming developers can tap into the marketplace’s NFTs, which commands 90% of the entire Solana’s marketplace share. 

CEO of Magic Eden Jack Lu stated, ‘The world of gaming is a massive market that has just started to venture into the world of Web3. We intend to deepen our relationships with both gamers and game developers alike to champion the future of games on the blockchain.’
Magic Eden has made itself a unicorn less than a year after launching its marketplace. The launch of the fund arrives a month after the unicorn raised US$130 million in a Series B funding round that was led by Electric Capital and Greylock, which pushed the unicorn’s valuation to US$ 1.6 billion.