Vera, the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), completed a $3 million seed round of funding led by Animoca Brands.
With mainstream cryptocurrencies, DeFi solutions are available to enable users to borrow money against the assets and trade crypto P2P without using a centralized exchange.
Vera is developing a series of open-source smart contracts that will do the same for NFTs, by enabling DeFi applications such as lending, leasing, and trading. Leasing is particularly relevant for games because sometimes people might want to borrow an NFT-based character to play a game.
It supports NFT-based applications and games on multiple blockchains, including Polkadot, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and Binance Smart Chain.
“Just like how a traditional mobile game should not have to build a bank to allow players to use in-app financial services, a blockchain NFT game or marketplace should not have to build and maintain a decentralized financial platform for its users,” said Animoca’s co-founder Yat Siu. “Vera is building a secure decentralized financial platform that is urgently needed in the NFT space to enable several essential financial services which many of us take for granted in the real world.”
The funding will be used to enhance product development, audit smart contracts, and expand Vera’s service to more NFT-based games.
OKEx Block Dream Fund, Genesis Block Ventures, Krypital Group, Shima Capital, SL2 Capital, Mozaik Capital, Sentor Investments, and Sandbar Investments also participated in the Vera funding.
Meanwhile, Animoca has invested in numerous NFT gaming initiatives, including play-to-earn gaming community Yield Guild Games, which recently received additional funding from a16z.
Animoca is also developing various play-to-earn games such as Revv Racing and developed a licensed game for the Olympics.
