exclusive

The web3 game development company Curio raised $5.7 million in seed funding led by Bain Capital Crypto and SevenX Ventures. 

OKX Ventures participated in the fresh financing, bringing Curio's total funding raised to $8.7 million, according to a release shared with The Block. 

Curio builds composable infrastructure for on-chain games. "We will utilize this funding to expand our core team further," Curio Co-Founder Kevin Zhang told The Block. "Additionally, we intend to allocate extra resources toward our ongoing growth. For instance, we are developing our own first-party Duper game show, akin to a high-stakes live Poker show." 

Curio previously raised $2.9 million in a round led by Bain Capital Crypto in 2022. TCG Crypto, Formless Capital, Smrti Lab, Robot Ventures and others also participated in the round, The Block previously reported. 

Duper debut

Curio also publicly launched its preeminent on-chain social strategy game called Duper Season One.

The game requires five players to engage in collusion and deception as a team. Curio co-founder Yijia Chen calls the game both a war strategy game and a social wagering game that is "as much fun as Poker, if not more."

"Our goal for Duper is not to dethrone Poker," Chen continued. "But we do believe that, in the 21st century, as awesome and immersive video games as a medium has gotten, there ought to be a great video game that is also a fun wagering game like Poker. A game which you can play casually with friends for a few dollars, or in a dazzling tournament with millions on the line."