AAG is Trying to Make the Metaverse Economy Work for All

Gaming probably isn’t the first thing you think of when theorizing about ways to lift people out of poverty. Unless, that is, you’re involved with AAG Ventures (AAGV), a project that’s paving a path to global economic freedom via the fast-growing metaverse economy.

In a recent funding round led by Shima Capital, Tribe Capital and Tess Ventures, the company raised $12.5 million for its bold vision of economic empowerment through play-to-earn and learn-to-earn models. 

A swathe of high-profile venture capital firms participated in the bootstrapping phase, among them HashKey Capital, Everest Ventures Group, Republic Realm, Portico Ventures, Greenblock Capital, GDP Venture, Kosmos Capital, Muse Builder, Slayton Capital, YellowBlocks, Synergis Capital, Oyster Ventures, ViaBTC Capital, Fomocraft Ventures and Sanctor Capital. 

Doing Well by Doing Good

A Singapore-based tech company born out of a wish to help those suffering hardship due to Covid-19, AAG Ventures is responsible for creating and building up a hugely popular guild (Achip & Achair Guild) of ‘scholars’ operating in the play-to-earn (P2E) space. The guild, which is among the largest in the metaverse economy, provides players – particularly those in developing nations – with access to games and profitable opportunities therein. 

The ability to earn cryptocurrency by playing blockchain-based games from the comfort of their homes has been a lifeline for individuals the world over, and especially natives of several developing world countries where the impact of lockdowns has hit particularly hard. To date, AAGV has established a presence in seven countries – the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, India, Russia, Nigeria, and Argentina – and is seeking to grow its guild of over 2,000 scholars in the years ahead.

Reflecting on the $12.5m raise, Shima Capital’s Founder and General Partner Yida Gao said: “I’ve had the pleasure to see AAG Ventures grow from a standard P2E guild to a category-defining powerhouse, creating new industries like a scholars microservices platform to help other guilds maximize their resources to developing the world’s first learn-to-earn ecosystem. 

“We are excited and honored to back Nelly, Jack, David and the entire AAG Ventures family on their quest to be a category king in the blockchain industry.”

The learn-to-earn platform to which Gao alludes represents a major ambition of AAGV: to incentivize and educate a legion of players who could become financially secure through blockchain gaming. The burgeoning learn-to-earn ecosystem will also help applicants develop transferable skills (e.g. math or programming) through educational games and platforms. 

Although AAG Ventures was only founded this year, it has already received thousands of applicants from those who wish to join its team of scholars. Clearly the pull of democratized P2E is strong; the company has set a goal of onboarding 100 million people to the metaverse by 2030.

The Road Ahead

Rather than focusing on building an all-conquering guild, AAG Ventures wants to help other players and guilds scale their operations for the benefit of the overall industry. This desire stems from a conviction that the nascent metaverse industry will grow 100x from where it was at the start of 2021. 

To this end, the firm's dedicated P2E platform serves as the backbone for the growing ecosystem and its many participants, including individual players, guilds, NFT owners and investors, and blockchain gaming developers.

Established by a committed and experienced team (Harmony Protocol, Google, JP Morgan, TIBCO), AAGV’s ambitious roadmap will see it introduce features such as fractional NFT ownership, a defi team builder, and integrated lending next year. It’s also in the process of creating a Foundation DAO for the purpose of NFT minting and voting. With the latter, the platform will reward community members with what it calls Proof-of-Participation (PoP) NFTs, based on the length and level of their participation.

With metaverse momentum showing few signs of slowing down, AAG Ventures looks like a project well worth watching.

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