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Sequoia Capital India Leads $450 Million Round for Polygon With SoftBank, Galaxy, Tiger, Republic Capital

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The backing from leading global institutions is a vote of confidence in Polygon’s position as Ethereum’s leading scaling solution and the team’s vision for Web3.

Polygon raised about $450 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India with participation from more than 40 major venture capital firms including SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Galaxy Digital, Galaxy Interactive, Tiger Global, Republic Capital and prominent investors like Alan Howard (co-founder, Brevan Howard) and Kevin O’Leary (Mr. Wonderful from ABC’s Shark Tank).

Polygon’s first major financing round since the project’s founding in 2017 has also attracted contributions from Alameda Research, Transcend Fund, Makers Fund, Animoca Brands, global video game leader and games industry investor Scopely, dune ventures, Union Square Ventures, Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six, Elevation Capital, Sino Global Capital, DCG, Standard Crypto, Celsius, Dragonfly Capital, Variant Fund, Blue Pool Capital, WorkPlay Ventures (led by Zynga founder Mark Pincus), and many more. The funds will be raised through a private sale of Polygon’s native MATIC token.

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This will allow the team to consolidate its lead in the race to scale Ethereum, obviating the need for alternative blockchains and paving the way for mass adoption of Web3 applications. Polygon is building a suite of scaling solutions, including Polygon PoS, Polygon Edge and Polygon Avail, that is similar to what Amazon Web Services offers Web2 developers — a tool for every possible use case. The team is also investing in cutting-edge zero knowledge (ZK) technology that will be key to onboarding the next billion users to Ethereum.

Polygon has always been a community-first project and owes its success to the ecosystem of early believers, developers and stakeholders. This investment round is the tide that lifts all boats and exemplifies the role the community plays in making Web3 a reality.

“Web3 builds on the early Internet’s open-source ideals, enabling users to create the value, control the network and reap the rewards. Ethereum, scaled by Polygon, will be the bedrock of this next stage in the Web’s evolution,” said Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal. “Technological disruption didn’t start with Web2, nor is it going to end there. That’s why we are very excited to see some of the same firms that funded the previous round of innovation now being our Web3 vision.”

The most pressing question for the Ethereum community has been how to increase the network’s capacity to handle more transactions. The skyrocketing popularity of new applications in decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) brought with it congestion and soaring fees. Polygon has stepped in with a broad range of scaling options and transaction rates that are among the industry’s lowest.

Over the past year, Polygon has attracted some of the biggest projects in Web3, from DeFi protocols such as lending platform Aave to luxury brands company Dolce & Gabbana and NFT marketplaces including OpenSea and Mark Cuban’s Lazy.com. Virtual worlds such as Decentraland and Animoca Brands’ The Sandbox are also laying the groundwork for the metaverse on the network. More than 7,000 decentralized apps (dApps) are currently building on Polygon, making it the main destination for Web3 platforms and developers.

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“The platform of choice to build on the blockchain today is Polygon. Thousands of developers across a range of applications are choosing Polygon and their complete set of scaling solutions for the Ethereum ecosystem,” said Shailesh Lakhani, MD at Sequoia India. “This is an ambitious and aggressive team, one that values innovation at its core. Sequoia Capital India is thrilled to lead this significant financing round.”

Polygon PoS adoption has soared exponentially, with a billion transactions recorded last year. The network’s more than 130 million unique addresses and over 2.67 million monthly active users now generate some 3 million transactions per day, more than double the volume of Ethereum. Polygon’s native MATIC token has a market capitalization of over $12 billion.

To make sure the growth can continue into the foreseeable future, Polygon is making major investments into zero knowledge cryptography, a technology widely seen as the end game for blockchain scaling. The core development team made it a centerpiece of its strategic vision in the Zero Knowledge Thesis published in August. As part of that mission, the team has committed $1 billion, a significant portion of the treasury, to ZK-related efforts.

Polygon is now home to an unrivaled collection of ZK efforts. The portfolio includes a zkEVM being developed by Polygon Hermez, privacy-focused Polygon Nightfall rollup built in collaboration with EY, Polygon Miden’s general purpose STARK-based rollup and Polygon Zero team applying a technique called recursion to ZK proofs.

“Adoption by individual users and enterprises, the emergence of real-world applications like DeFi and NFTs, and broader involvement from the institutional community are all strong indicators that Web3 has passed a major installation milestone and is here to stay,” Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said. “Together, Polygon and Ethereum are building the base layer for a new Internet, which is why we’re excited to play a role in this important fundraise.”

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Making Indian Presence Felt: Natural8 India gears up to take a contingent of nine winners of its latest India Exclusive to Asian Poker Tour (APT) Phu Quoc!

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With fully expense paid trip to the breathtaking island and a whopping INR 15 lakh in additional benefits, the winners will compete with Asia’s best poker players for the ultimate prize in the Main and Mini Main Events

Underlining its commitment to establishing India’s competitive poker scene on a global stage, Natural8 India is taking a massive contingent of nine players on an all-expenses paid trip to compete at the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Phu Quoc. In doing so, these nine players – Kishore Kumar V C, Romit Advani, Akhand Shukla, Myron Pereira, Pranav Khandalkar, Arindam Nayak, Anurag Rawat, Rasik Bhatia, and Harsh Bharti – will have a shot at winning the ultimate prize at the Main Event: the APT Trophy and the Main Event prize pool!

To facilitate this, Natural8 India has offered bonuses worth a whopping INR 15 lakh to the nine winners of its latest India Exclusive. In addition to travel and accommodation (worth around INR 85,000 per head) to all players, it has also offered the top four players a chance to compete at the main table with Main Event tickets worth INR 1,23,905 each while the other five players are set to compete at the Mini Main Event with tickets worth INR 41,301 each.

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Speaking at the announcement, Kunal Patni, Executive Director and Country Head, Natural8 India, said, “The Indian competitive poker community is rapidly establishing itself as a thriving space and actively challenging the top players, whether in Asia or a global stage. At Natural8 India, we are proud to be driving this shift with events such as our India Exclusives, where we uncover the next wave of talented competitive poker players and give them a chance to shine at the grandest stages. It is inspiring to witness the energy at these tables, with both seasoned players and fresh talent coming together to elevate the game. We’re eagerly anticipating more intense showdowns at the APT Phu Quoc as our contingent takes on the best poker players from across Asia. We wish all the participants the very best!”

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Hong Kong Construction Titan Turned Macau Casino Boss Lui Che-Woo Dies Aged 95

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Lui Che Woo, the casino tycoon who helped propel Macau to eclipse rival Las Vegas in gambling revenues, has died at the age of 95, his company said in a statement late on Monday.

Lui, chairman of Macau casino company Galaxy Entertainment, died in Hong Kong on Nov. 7, it said, adding that his “vision, tremendous leadership and guidance” were the foundation for the group’s development and continued success.

Also the chairman of K. Wah Group, a Hong Kong-listed company focused on construction and quarry mining before turning to property, Lui was widely recognised in both Hong Kong and Macau as an influential businessman with close ties to the Chinese government.

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One of Hong Kong’s richest men, Lui kept a low profile and was always seen wearing a flat cap as he went about the city and when he attended press conferences.

A member of China’s national advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Lui had close ties to Beijing and was part of a business delegation that met with President Xi Jinping in 2014 in China’s capital.

Galaxy Entertainment holds one of six coveted gaming licenses that were granted after Macau liberalised the casino industry in 2002.

Competing with rivals like the now deceased Stanley Ho, whose family runs the SJM Holdings casino empire, the late U.S. billionaire Sheldon Adelson and Wynn Resorts founder Steve Wynn, Lui steered Galaxy to become of Macau’s top operators.

It operates several large casino resorts in Macau, both on the Las Vegas-style Cotai strip and on the teeming main peninsula.

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8Bit Creatives partners with NODWIN Gaming as the exclusive talent partner for DreamHack India

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8Bit Creatives, India’s leading esports consulting and talent management agency, has announced its partnership with NODWIN Gaming, a leader in new-age youth entertainment, gaming, and esports, as the exclusive Talent Partner for DreamHack India 2024.

With this partnership, 8Bit Creatives will leverage its significant reach in the Indian gaming, esports and youth communities through its prominent and talented roster of creators. These creators will create content leading up to the festival and also host meet-and-greet sessions.

India’s biggest gaming festival, DreamHack India, is set to take place from 15th to 17th November at the Hitex Exhibition Centre in Hyderabad, marking its fifth edition. For half a decade, the India edition of the global festival has become one of the most anticipated events of the Indian gaming ecosystem. Bringing together a plethora of events, including esports tournaments, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) events, cosplay competitions, music concerts, and stand-up comedy, DreamHack India is the celebration of gaming, esports, pop-culture, and entertainment.

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8Bit Creatives, CEO and founder Animesh Agarwal said “DreamHack India is one of the most prominent events in the Indian gaming and esports calendar and we’re proud to be the exclusive talent partners for it. This is further recognition of 8Bit Creatives’ ability to meaningfully engage the gaming and youth audiences across the country. Our belief in working with the right creators who create experiences that resonate with the youth audiences distinguishes our offerings and we can’t wait to share what we have in store for DreamHack India 2024 with our audiences!”

This is not the first time that 8Bit Creatives will partner with DreamHack India. The organisation was also the talent partner for the event in 2022.

Commenting on the partnership, NODWIN Gaming, Co-founder and MD Akshat Rathee said “Our vision at NODWIN Gaming is to create unforgettable experiences for the youth, and DreamHack has proven to be the ultimate platform to realise that vision, bringing together gaming, entertainment, and community in an immersive celebration. We’re thrilled to have 8Bit Creatives as our exclusive Talent Partner for DreamHack India 2024. It’s especially exciting to welcome iconic creators like Mortal, who joined us in our very first edition, back for this landmark fifth year, alongside fan favourites like Snax, Kaashvi, Thug, and Payal. These creators bring a unique energy that connects deeply with our fans and elevates every moment. Their presence underscores our commitment to crafting electrifying experiences year after year, building on the momentum of events like BGMS and past DreamHack editions. Together with 8Bit and this powerhouse lineup, we’re setting the stage for an unforgettable event that will bring fans and creators closer than ever before!”

8Bit Creatives’s content and esports division S8UL became the only organisation in the year to win ‘Content Group of the Year’ award for the third consecutive year at the Esports Awards 2024. Additionally, they are the only organisation from India to ever win an Esports Award in any category. Earlier this year, gaming content creators from 8Bit Creatives including Naman Mathur, Payal Dhare and Animesh “Thug” Agarwal were invited for a meet and greet session with the honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

The organisation has been at the forefront of India’s gaming and content ecosystem with its extensive range of services, including talent management, campaign curation and execution, brand activations and more.

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