Web3 gaming and AI company CARV has announced a significant expansion of its strategic partnerships, marking what the company calls its most productive quarter to date. The California-based firm, which describes itself as the largest modular identity and data layer for gaming and AI, revealed it has secured over 10 new collaborations across various sectors in the third quarter of 2024. These partnerships span CARV's three main business pillars: CARV Protocol, CARV Play, and CARV Labs. They include agreements with infrastructure providers Base and EigenLayer, AI companies Inferium AI and Gitcoin Passport, and gaming entities such as Intella X.
Victor Yu, Co-Founder of CARV, stated, "With partnership announcements rolling out on a nearly weekly basis, we've made significant strides this quarter across our core business." Yu emphasized the company's intention to maintain this momentum. CARV Protocol, which facilitates data exchange and value distribution in gaming and AI, has expanded its collaborations to enhance security, cost-effectiveness, and scalability. New partners in this area include Base, EigenLayer, Monad, and Nuffle.
The company's AI-powered superapp, CARV Play, has also seen growth. CARV reports that the platform now has 9.5 million registered users and 1.3 million daily active users. Recent partnerships with Gitcoin Passport and LayerZero aim to improve security and cross-chain capabilities.
In September, CARV launched CARV Labs, a $50 million accelerator program designed to incubate projects that drive adoption of the company's data protocol. The accelerator has partnered with Intella X, a web3 gaming platform from Korean game developer NEOWIZ, to provide support for incubated projects.
One of the first successes from this accelerator is BANANA, an idle game built on the TON blockchain, which CARV claims has attracted over 12 million users in about a month. This rapid growth aligns with CARV's stated commitment to supporting the TON ecosystem and Telegram's crypto community.
CARV's expansion comes amid growing interest in the intersection of blockchain technology, gaming, and artificial intelligence. The company states it has integrated over 900 games and AI companies, representing what it claims is more than 30% of all Web3 games.
While these figures and claims are impressive, it's worth noting that the Web3 gaming market is still evolving, and market share calculations can be challenging to verify independently. Additionally, the rapid user growth reported for some projects, such as BANANA, is notable in the industry but would benefit from further context about user retention and engagement.
CARV reports it has raised $50 million in total funding from investors including Tribe Capital, Temasek Vertex, and Animoca Brands. The company's team includes veterans from major tech and gaming companies such as Coinbase, Binance, Google, and Electronic Arts.
As the Web3 gaming and AI sectors continue to develop, companies like CARV are positioning themselves at the forefront of this convergence. However, as with any rapidly evolving technology sector, the long-term impact and sustainability of these initiatives remain to be seen.
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