Cartridge Raises $7.5 Million Series A to Accelerate Onchain Game Development
Today, we’re thrilled to share that Cartridge, the leading infrastructure provider for provable onchain games and autonomous worlds, has raised a $7.5M Series A round of funding led by BITKRAFT Ventures. StarkWare, Fabric Ventures, Dune Ventures, Primitive Ventures, and Ergodic** **Fund also participated.
When we started Cartridge in 2022, fully onchain gaming was barely a blip on the radar. While the games industry’s flirtation with crypto largely fixated on "web2.5" games, a small group of pioneers saw the true potential of putting entire games onchain. However, builders eager to create these innovative experiences faced significant challenges, lacking proper tooling, robust support infrastructure, and an established developer ecosystem.
Despite the progress that onchain gaming has collectively made in the ensuing years, the broader games industry has been slow to adapt to the changing needs of both gamers and game developers alike. In many ways, things have only gotten worse. Games are being sunset despite having active communities, modders are being de-platformed, creators are scraping by on the leftovers meted out to them by mega-platforms, and players are losing access to the in-game assets that they had been led to believe were theirs to keep. These issues not only highlight the industry’s failure to evolve, but also underscore the urgent need for decentralized, community-owned gaming ecosystems.
Two years ago, my co-founder Calvin and I set out to address these challenges. Initially, our focus was on creating a better framework for building games like Dope Wars – the ecosystem that initially brought us together. However, we quickly realized the scope of the problem was much larger and we refocused our efforts towards addressing the glaring lack of support infrastructure for building onchain games.
As it turned out, we weren't alone in this realization. Our vision resonated beyond our team, attracting a community of like-minded developers.
At its heart, Cartridge builds the tooling and infrastructure that enable developers to create provable onchain games and autonomous worlds rapidly, efficiently, and at scale. As a core developer of the open-source Dojo framework, we're committed to pushing the boundaries of what's possible in onchain gaming with the support and input of our community. This collaborative spirit has been instrumental in shaping Cartridge and the broader Dojo ecosystem into what they are today: the leading destinations for building provable onchain games.
In addition to championing an open-source approach to the foundation set by Dojo, Cartridge’s flagship products significantly augment the available toolset:
- Controller, our smart contract wallet, enables the type of seamless onboarding UX that modern gamers have come to expect. Gamers can start up a Controller-integrated game in seconds on both desktop and mobile.
- Slot, our managed RaaS (Rollup-as-a-Service), allows developers to scale their games efficiently, ensuring smooth gameplay experiences even as their user base grows.
These tools are already making a significant impact in the developer community. Rob Morris, founder of onchain games studio Underware, had this to say about our work:
"Building on Starknet with Cairo and Dojo has been a huge enabler and accelerator for our work. Dojo is a fantastic framework that takes the heavy lifting out of some of the most complex aspects of our work, and the Cartridge team have been wonderful to work with."
This funding round marks a significant milestone for Cartridge, but it's just the beginning of our story. We're more committed than ever to our mission of empowering developers to create the next generation of onchain games and autonomous worlds. With the support of our investors, partners, and community, we're excited to lead the way.
Our lead investor, Nico Vereecke of BITKRAFT Ventures, had this to add:
“The future of gaming is onchain, and Cartridge's Dojo engine is at the forefront of this revolution. By providing developers with the necessary tools and a supportive ecosystem, Cartridge is enabling the creation of decentralized, community-owned games that are not only innovative, but also scalable. We are excited to support Cartridge in their mission to transform the gaming landscape.”
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to build, innovate, and grow.
Tarrence van As, CEO & Co-founder
