‘Clash of Clans' Maker Supercell Invests in ‘Games for a Living'

Hi NoRamp Community,

Daily News:

1) Former Revolut Employees Launch X10 Exchange, Secure $6.5M in Funding

2) ‘Clash of Clans' Maker Supercell Invests in ‘Games for a Living'

3) Backflip Raises $15 Million to Grow Real Estate Investment Platform

4) ‘Wallet-As-A-Service’ Startup Ansa Raises $14 Million

5) Inclusive Instant Payment System Higala Launches in the Philippines

Revolut Employees Launch X10 Exchange, Secure $6.5M in Funding:

• Former employees of Revolut have launched a new crypto exchange named X10, successfully raising $6.5 million in initial funding, with the intention of filling the market gap left by the now-defunct FTX.

• X10, co-founded by Ruslan Fakhrutdinov and his former Revolut colleagues, aims to blend the benefits of centralized and decentralized systems. It offers a "selfcustodial" model that allows users to control their own crypto wallets while enjoying the ease of trading on a centralized platform.

• The exchange, which primarily targets professional investors, plans to use the raised funds to enhance its trading infrastructure and develop a mobile app, aligning with its vision to combine financial freedom with a secure and user-friendly trading environment.

‘Clash of Clans' Maker Supercell Invests in ‘Games for a Living':

• Supercell, renowned for its hit mobile games like Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, has invested in crypto gaming startup Games for a Living (GFAL) as part of a $3.2 million seed funding round. GFAL, co-founded by Trip Hawkins, former CEO of Electronic Arts, is focusing on developing games that incorporate NFTs and crypto tokens.

• The investment will help GFAL expand its team and accelerate game production following a successful GFAL token sale last year that raised $4.4 million. Despite its modest market cap of $42 million, the GFAL token has seen a significant price increase of 235% since March 2023.

• GFAL, which has recently soft-launched the game Elemental Raiders in select regions, plans to use the new funds to continue its development and capitalize on the steady performance improvements noted since its initial release. The funding round also included contributions from notable gaming and esports executives Mitch Lasky and Heinrich Zetlmayer.

  

  Source: PYMNTS

Backflip Raises $15 Million to Grow Real Estate Investment Platform:

• Backflip has successfully raised $15 million in a Series A funding round to expand its real estate and FinTech platform, which supports entrepreneurs who collectively flip around 400,000 houses annually in the U.S., by providing necessary funding and tools.

• The company, led by CEO Josh Ernst, offers technology and capital solutions that assist members in managing investment pipelines, securing funding, and growing their real estate enterprises. Backflip’s platform delivers real-time data through mobile and desktop apps to help users source, evaluate, and finance potential investments.

• The funding round, led by FirstMark Capital, follows Backflip’s achievement of crossing $10 million in net revenue run rate and approaching profitability. To date, Backflip has funded over 900 homes, with members realizing an average gross profit of $82,000 per property, usually repaying their loans within six months.

Wallet-As-A-Service’ Startup Ansa Raises $14 Million:

• Ansa, a startup that enables merchants to develop and offer branded virtual wallets, has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round led by Renegade Partners, with contributions from Bain Capital Ventures, BoxGroup, Wischoff Ventures, and new investor B37 Ventures, bringing its total venture capital to nearly $20 million.

• Co-founded by former Adyen product manager Sophia Goldberg and ex-Affirm software engineer JT Cho, Ansa is creating a white-labeled digital wallet infrastructure, dubbed "wallet-as-a-service," designed to facilitate small payments and reduce high credit card fees for minor transactions.

• Ansa’s service aims to enhance merchant revenue and customer loyalty by allowing merchants to integrate wallets with rewards and incentives, focusing initially on coffee, quick service restaurants (QSR), marketplaces, retail, and convenience stores. The funding will be used for product development and engineering as the company aims to expand its team from its current 12 employees.

Inclusive Instant Payment System Higala Launches in the Philippines:

• Higala has launched a new inclusive instant payment system (IIPS) in the Philippines, aiming to reduce the cost of real-time payments and enhance financial inclusion by connecting thrift banks, rural banks, and microfinance institutions to a "financial superhighway."

• Despite the existence of InstaPay, only 4.5% of the country's 400 rural banks currently participate due to high switching and on-ramp costs, which Higala aims to address by making instant payments more accessible and affordable for both consumers and merchants.

• The system, seed-funded by Talino Venture Studios and Chemonics International, utilizes the open-source payment platform Mojaloop to facilitate connectivity among banks, payment gateways, merchants, and the central bank, integrating advanced technologies like e-KYC, AML-TF monitoring, and AI-based risk management to modernize the Philippines' digital financial infrastructure..

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