Rumble Kong League raises $4.5M in Seed Round
The Metaverse Sports League Combines Competitive 3v3 Basketball Gameplay, Play-to-Earn and NFTs, Received Funding from JDS Crypto, CAA Sports, Framework Ventures, IDEO CoLab, Animoca Brands, and PG
It’s showtime! We are thrilled to announce that we raised $4.5M USD to build the go-to web3 sports league. What does this mean for you and the community? Read on.
TL;DR: This is not an acquisition but financial and strategic support we are receiving to go bigger. RKL is our dream project, but we want to go beyond the NFT space and build a product that can be enjoyed by millions of users.
For us, it was crucial that each investment partner adds clear strategic value. The funds will allow us to chase our growing ambitions and support directly back into the ecosystem:
Recruiting more industry expert team members
Increase game development scope
Overall ecosystem funding (Partners, leagues, new features, …)
More ways to reach new audiences
There are a lot of things that make the RKL special. A Beanie, A Mantra (IAMKONG), Clubs, !yes, Sick’s art. At the core of everything we’ve accomplished is the community. A community who unified and believed in us during a long 4 day initial mint in July. A community whose numbers and conviction quietly grow stronger each and every day. Every project will say their community is the best, but we really do have the best community. Kongs do it all:
Kongs are Web3. Kong holders are Apes, Cats, LAND owners, Doodles, Toads, WoW, Cats, Punks, and everything in between. The RKL is open to all the metaverse has to offer. And more.
Kongs are Artists. We had a super successful creative contest. We’ve seen musicians writing raps, artists making magazine covers, 3D modelers building gyms and stadiums, even giant murals outside real basketball courts.
Kongs are Builders. The boost market operates off a community-created site. Kongs created a dedicated weekly podcast, a Magazine, dozens of clubs actively building brands with design assets companies would be envious of.
Kongs are Community. Our Discord is buzzing, we are discussing game theory, sports, memes, all day, every day. We’ve seen Kongs fundraise for each other, protect each other, support each other’s work, and sacrifice for each other.
When we reflect on the journey we’ve been on so far, the most unbelievable part is not the sales or the ongoing floor price talks. It's you, the Kongs, and what’s been able to build in such a short amount of time. Just take a step back and think how quickly we went from mint, only four(!) months ago, to being shown on national TV or our merch being worn by Paul George pre-game.
This wouldn’t be possible without our insane community. If you are a Kong holder or not. We thank each and every one of you for inspiring us to think bigger. And think bigger we did.
What is the Vision for the RKL:
If you read the Kong Paper. the introduction ends with:
Introducing Rumble Kong League: A competitive 3v3 basketball game where each NFT avatar is a player on the court.
We’re sure that’s how you explain the RKL to all your friends, family, and maybe your grandma who kinda understands what crypto is. We’ve mentioned before that our ambitions have been growing larger and larger. Why stop at a 3v3 basketball game? Why not streetwear? Metaverse Fashion? What about music? These goals are becoming achievable.
First thing’s first. We have to deliver on our promise. The Game. We will ramp up in every way. The team is constantly growing, we are seeing amazing game progress, and will share more with you in the coming weeks and months. Our main priority has always been to deliver a kick-ass game!
The League. We want all eyes on the official Rumble Kong League. Brands and teams are being built, clamoring to be a part of it, and each match is a spectacle for the metaverse to enjoy.
The Kongs. An avatar that goes way past a static pfp on Twitter. Your Kong should be the expression of an individual in the metaverse. We are working hard to turn the existing 2D illustration into an interactive 3D avatar, that can be used inside RKL, but why not anywhere online?!
So why funding!?
The fundraise guarantees us 3 main things.
Funding will be used to execute our giant vision and go directly into growing the entire RKL ecosystem.
We’ll be able to hire the best and expand our team to the size and caliber this project demands
We’ll have support from industry titans who can guide us, open doors and provide valuable insight where needed.
We were extremely fortunate to have had interest from a wide range of investors and individuals. Of our final list, each one brings decades of experience and networks that will play a crucial role in the next stage of our journey. We can not stress enough how honored we are to have each investor as part of the RKL and for them to believe in us enough to join us in this endeavor.
We mentioned it before, and we will mention it again. We are building an ecosystem that millions of users can interact with. It will be a tough battle and not done overnight, but this funding will help us to get there faster, and more efficiently.
Alright, gotcha. What’s next?
Honestly, nothing much will change in our day-to-day. Kongs will be Kongs, we will continue building but when we share something, we want it to be the highest possible quality, and involve each one of you to get there. The effects will come into play further down the road, as we now have the funds to accelerate features and initiatives which were further down on the roadmap.
It’s important to note that this is not an acquisition, we are not selling our souls to corporations and we will continue to develop the greatest project in the web3 space and bring sports to web3.
We will share our next Dev Diary soon, give more updates about the features that are being developed, launch the first waves of clubs and share some other exciting things that are on the roadmap.
Long story short, we just want to do cool stuff with you!
Thank you and always remember, WE ARE KONG!