Vietnamese blockchain-based gaming unicorn Sky Mavis has raised a fresh $150 million funding round led by crypto exchange Binance to reimburse user funds lost in the recent Ronin validator hack, it said in a statement.

Existing investors Animoca Brands, a16z, Dialectic, Accel and Paradigm also participated in the round.

Sky Mavis, the company behind the world’s largest NFT game Axie Infinity, said it will use the new capital, along with its balance sheet funds, to reimburse users affected by the March 23 hack that was estimated to be worth $540 million.

Sky Mavis’ Ronin validator nodes and Axie decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) validator nodes were compromised, causing 173,600 Ethereum (ETH) and 25.5 million USDC to be drained from the Ronin bridge, the company said.

Sky Mavis said it will increase the validator group from 5 to 21 within the next three months, and the Ronin Network bridge will open post-security upgrade and several audits.

Meanwhile, Binance is supporting the Ronin Network by providing ETH withdrawals and deposits for Axie Infinity users, allowing most of them to operate freely.

“Sky Mavis is committed to reimbursing all of our users’ lost funds and implementing rigorous internal security measures to prevent future attacks,” said Trung Nguyen, CEO of Sky Mavis.

The company claims it has 2.6 million players and has processed 10x more volume than the second-largest NFT game.

Last October, Sky Mavis raised $152 million in a Series B funding round led by a16z, with participation from Accel and Paradigm. The startup was then reportedly valued at $3 billion.

In May 2021, the company raised $7.5 million in Series A funding led by UK-based Libertus Capital. Earlier in 2019, it had bagged a $1.5 million round led by Anomica Brands, with participation from Korean crypto fund Hashed, Swiss Pangea Blockchain Fund, US-based blockchain solution provider ConsenSys, and early-stage VC firm 500 Startups (now 500 Global).

Source: DealStreet Asia