BITKRAFT Ventures Backs Karate Combat with $18M to Drive Fan Engagement via XR and Web3 Tools

Karate Combat, a live-action, full-contact martial arts sports league, has announced today that it has raised $18 million in a funding round led by BITKRAFT Ventures. Additional participants include Delphi Digital, The Operating Group, Alpha Wave Global, Hashkey, Lattice, M13, Santiago Santos, RooxieXBT, and others.

The new funds will be used to support the May 10 launch of the Karate Combat App and the $KARATE token.

Founded in 2018 by Michael Depietro and Robert Bryan, Karate Combat blends live-action, full-contact karate with immersive CGI environments powered by the Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. Using XR technology and multiple tracked cameras, Karate Combat enables viewers to experience martial arts in a virtual world. 

Karate Combat co-founder Robert Bryan told Metaverse Post in an email that the league worked with fans to find the most entertaining alternative to globally hosting physical fights as they were not sustainable or scalable.

“We quickly found out hosting fights in virtual environments was easily the most popular amongst fans – especially the younger generation. Because Karate Combat features real fights between Olympic athletes competing in worlds rendered in real-time, the use of Unreal Engine, Epic Games’ 3D computer graphics game engine, was a no-brainer,”

Bryan explained.

The league plans to combine XR techniques with real-world backdrops and other sensory-stimulating advancements so remote fans can experience Karate Combat’s immersive virtual environment.

With 4.5 million followers and 10 million views per event, the league is streamed and broadcast to over 100 countries worldwide. Distributors include Eurosport, Globo’s Combate, MatchTV, BeIN Sports, CBS Sports, and ESPN Deportes. The League has approximately 100 full-time exclusive fighters, which include world champions like Rafael Aghayev, Raymond Daniels, Luiz Rocha, and Ross Levine as well as UFC Hall of Famer Bas Rutten as the league’s lead announcer.

Karate Combat is the first sports league structured as a DAO, giving fans insight and say into every major aspect of running the league, from fighter selection and recruitment to management. On May 10, the league will launch the Karate Combat UP Only Gaming App and $KARATE token, which governs the League and gamifies the live viewing experience.

Fans can collect free tokens, and holders can use the league’s smart contracts, web apps, and mobile apps to vote on fighters, earn additional $KARATE tokens, and boost their favorite fighters’ potential prize pools. Fans will be rewarded with $KARATE when their fighters win the match.

When it comes to the future of the league, Bryan said that the technological framework Karate Combat has developed for Up Only Gaming provides a platform for a number of other products, follow-on features, and collaborations in areas such as social contests, fighter interactions, and additional games that are in development.

“In terms of the league’s structure, that is entirely up to the DAO, and we look forward to sharing this ongoing journey with the community,” he concluded.

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