Stacked, a start-up studio based in Los Angeles is making a video streaming platform for gaming content that could become the Twitch for Web3 users.
The idea behind the platform is to turn creators into shareholders on the platform by giving them governance tokens, a model that will “align the interests of both content operators and creators for the first time” said co-founder Alex Lin.
Creators will not need to become crypto-savvy to use the service as the platform will be available on both mobile and desktop, similar to a conventional video streaming platform. The tokens, on the other hand, will be awarded to users based on performance metrics, with the management team ensuring that creators rather than investors have higher ownership of Stacked.
Stacked’s vision has garnered various investors who have put together $12.9 million into its Series A funding round which was led by Pantera Capital, an American hedge fund that specialises in cryptocurrencies.
Some of the institutional investors include Z Venture Capital, a merger between LINE Ventures, which is associated with the Japanese messaging giant LINE, and YJ Capital, the owner of Yahoo! Japan. GFR Fund is owned by Japan’s mobile gaming firm GREE.
Big name investors
Angel investors on the other hand include Alexandr Wang, the founder of Scale AI, Eddy Lu, CEO of GOAT and Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus and Nothing.
And although Lin didn’t initially want to develop Stacked for crypto users, the co-founder was later convinced by Pantera Capital that blockchain will play a critical role in next-gen mobile games.
Stacked has only been around for a year but is set to reconfigure its video streaming service with crypto and NFT features. The platform is scheduled to launch in North America this December before eventually making its way to Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
