Anichess
Free-to-play online chess game with magical spells.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor investor investor investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
* | $1.8m | Seed | |
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Anichess is a Hong Kong-based gaming startup founded in 2023 as a subsidiary of Animoca Brands. The company is developing a free-to-play, community-driven online chess game that adds a strategic layer to the traditional game through the use of magical spell mechanics. Anichess was co-developed in partnership with Chess.com and five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. The company is led by Head of Anichess Brian Chan, who is also the VP of Operations and Projects at Animoca Brands.
The company's primary product is a browser-based chess game that combines the core rules of chess with new gameplay elements, including a variety of spells that create offensive, defensive, and counter-tactic opportunities. This is intended to make the game more engaging and accessible to a wider audience, including strategy game enthusiasts who may not regularly play traditional chess. The game launched its first phase in January 2024 with a player-versus-environment (PvE) mode, where players solve daily chess puzzles using magic spells. By completing challenges, players can collect in-game assets called Orbs of Power. The player-versus-player (PvP) mode was expected to launch in the second quarter of 2024. The game operates on a free-to-play model and incorporates Web3 functionalities, allowing players to mint in-game rewards as NFTs without gas fees. Web3 players can connect to the game via MetaMask and WalletConnect.
Since its puzzle game launch in January 2024, Anichess has registered over one million players and maintains a daily active user base of 150,000. Collectively, players have solved over 50 million chess puzzles. The company has raised a total of $3.3 million over two seed funding rounds. The first round in June 2023 raised $1.5 million, and the second in April 2024 raised an additional $1.8 million, with lead investors including Sfermion and Amber Group. The capital is being used to fund game development, marketing, and team expansion.
Keywords: spell chess, online chess, strategy game, free-to-play, Web3 gaming, Animoca Brands, Chess.com, Magnus Carlsen, esports, blockchain game, NFT, player-versus-player, player-versus-environment, digital collectibles, gaming subsidiary, puzzle game, fantasy chess, tactical gaming, decentralized gaming, browser game