Anichess, a chess-based online strategy game developed in partnership with Chess.com and five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, has completed its US$1.8 million funding round.
Sfermion, a US-based multi-strategy investment firm focused on the immersive internet, and Amber Group, led the round, with participation from Fenbushi Capital, Aspen Digital, SNZ Capital, and others.
Also Read: Animoca subsidiary Anichess closes US$1.5M seed funding round
Anichess will use the fresh capital to fund game development, marketing initiatives, and team expansion.
Anichess is a Web3 gaming project developed in collaboration between Animoca Brands and Chess.com, the leading global online chess platform. It provides a novel tactical twist by implementing spells that open up new strategies and gameplay and require players to rethink traditional chess rules as they uncover the expansive lore within the world of the gameboard.
In 2023, Anichess closed an oversubscribed US$1.5 million seed round. In January 2024, the startup launched its player-versus-environment (PvE) daily chess puzzles. It claims to have secured over 1,000,000 registered players while maintaining an active user base of 150,000 daily active users who have collectively solved over 50 million chess puzzles.
Anichess’s Season 1 leaderboard was launched on 11 March 2024, ranking players based on points accumulated from solving daily puzzles and collecting Orbs of Power obtained through gameplay and participation in social events. Its online player-versus-player (PvP) game mode is expected to launch in Q2 2024.
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Dan Patterson, General Partner of Sfermion, said: “The future of gaming is community-driven and player-owned, and we believe that, with Chess.com’s existing community of 150m+ players and Web3 communities such as Mocaverse, Anichess has the potential to onboard tens of millions of players into that future. With the added strategic components and esports-like elements, Anichess aims to keep things fresh by building for the gamers who yearn for the hardest challenges.”
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