Gaming platform Bud raises $37 million in round led by Sequoia Capital India

Bud, a gaming platform powered by user-generated content, has raised $36.8 million in a Series B round led by Sequoia Capital India.

ClearVue Partners, NetEase and Northern Light Venture Capital also participated in the round, alongside existing investors GGV Capital, Qiming Venture Partners and Source Code Capital, Bud said in a release on Tuesday. 

Founded in 2019 by former Snap engineers Risa Feng and Shawn Lin, Singapore-headquartered Bud describes itself as a “metaverse” platform encouraging users to create and share 3D interactive experiences.

In addition to customizing avatars, users can also create and explore millions of experiences ranging from hangout places to battle royale-style games. 

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The company said it will use the funds to further develop its creation tools, grow its global user base and roll out web3 products. The company has also laid out plans to launch its own non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace.

To date, Bud says over 15 million 3D experiences and assets have been created on the platform. User-generated 3D assets have been traded more than 150 million times.

Bud is the latest in a string of companies to indicate it will launch a NFT marketplace as it looks to expand.

At the end of last year, Justin Kan, the co-founder of the video game livestreaming service Twitch, and other gaming industry entrepreneurs said they were launching a Solana-based marketplace designed for gaming NFTs, called Fractal. Former music streaming service LimeWire also announced its comeback as a digital collectables NFT marketplace in March.