AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Fundamental Labs, a blockchain and digital asset focused venture capital firm, has announced the recent hiring of Vinayak Rao as Principal, GameFi Lead. Rao will primarily be responsible for supporting founders through investments and resources across the Web 3.0 and blockchain gaming ecosystem.
Prior to joining Fundamental Labs, Rao worked for Facebook where he was leading the social network’s Gaming Product Partnerships team, launching its Tournaments platform which serviced grassroot organizers and large-scale publishers. He also launched Rival Peak, a reality TV show simulated entirely within a game engine – a platform that enabled games to be playable on top of video content blurring the line between viewership and gameplay.
Commenting on his appointment Rao said, “I’m a lifelong gamer and have always valued the opportunity to blend my passion with my career. The opportunity with Fundamental Labs is very exciting. The role allows me to remain close to gaming while influencing some amazing and creative projects that are changing gameplay through blockchain technology.”
Managing Partner, Henry Love added “The GameFi world is changing quickly. The Web 2 gaming companies are all finding ways to enter the Web 3 world. Vinayak’s expansive network and strong track record in the gaming world makes him a clear leader that can bring new vision and support to the Web3 and GameFi ecosystem. We are beyond excited to have him lead our gaming investments thesis and represent us on the West Coast.”
GameFi, short for Game-Finance, and dubbed “play to earn” is the latest trend in gaming allowing players to earn cryptocurrency or NFT rewards for achieving various milestones in the blockchain games.
Fundamental Labs kicked off 2022 with strategic investments in Metaplex SuperDAO, a project in the Solana ecosystem, and ICHI as part of its broad investment mandate that covers themes such as Web3, DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, and DAOs – at all stages of development. It most recently was a significant investor in Binance.US’s seed round.
More about Fundamental Labs
Fundamental Labs is a leading venture capital firm that invests in blockchain focused start-ups of varying growth phases. Its mandate includes themes such as Web3, DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, and DAOs. As of April 2022, it has invested more than US$1 billion, in over 300 companies, across a series of five funds and will debut a sixth fund later in the year.
Fundamental Labs has offices around the world and leverages key hubs in North America and Asia to address market opportunities and support its portfolio companies.