NEAR Foundation is excited to announce a new partnership with Press Start Capital, a pre-seed stage venture fund focused on Web3 Gaming, Metaverse, NFTs, and Entertainment.

With NEAR, Press Start is looking to identify, fund, and support the promising Web3 builders and creators of what it calls a “new Golden Age of Entertainment.” And Press Start will join NEAR’s network of partner funds. 

In this new partnership, information sharing between NEAR and Press Start will be vital. Any game developers identified by Press Start that aren’t committed to a blockchain will be directed to NEAR to help build and ship their Web3 gaming apps and products. Press Start will also have access to the Foundation and ecosystem’s vast network of fund partners—a critical piece in building the new era of gaming. 

Community front and center

Both NEAR and Press Start see the future of gaming as being community-driven. The partners are fully aligned in manifesting a world where players take part in the creation and ownership of the games, stories, and assets they cherish. 

“As crypto eats software and gaming eats culture, we believe now is the time to build a new Golden Age of Entertainment that will unlock a new generation of community-owned games and IP,” says Steven Chien, co-founder and General Partner at Press Start Capital. “We’re excited to collaborate with NEAR as a mission-aligned partner to support and grow a community of Web3 founders building community-driven products.”

With NEAR and Press Start, founders will help founders in a mutual learning environment. The partnership will also include deal flow sharing and bi-weekly/monthly calls.

Press Start’s collaboration with NEAR partner OrangeDAO, a group of over 1,300 Y Combinator alumni, on a new fellowship is also part of this community-driven gaming strategy. The fellowship already features participants building applications that will empower future Web3 users and communities.

Ten fellows are currently participating in a ten-week fellowship program designed to help Y Combinator alums validate, build, and ship their next web3 project.   

Web3 gaming on NEAR: fast and  infinitely scalable 

With the new NEAR and Press Start partnership, Web3 gaming developers can take full advantage of NEAR’s sharded, Proof-of-Stake (PoS), layer-one blockchain. Thanks to NEAR’s  unique Nightshade sharding implementation, projects that come to NEAR from Press Start’s efforts will join a dynamic ecosystem of 800+ active projects and over 125 DAOs, building on a protocol that is ever-expanding and decentralizing. 

Like the other developers, entrepreneurs, and creatives building on NEAR, new Web3 gaming devs will have access to the NEAR community’s resources. From Web3 startup platform Pagoda to NEAR Education and other ecosystem players, gaming devs can tap into a vast web of Web3 technology and expertise. 

Future partnership opportunities

NEAR Foundation’s partnership with Press Start will evolve over time, combining the Foundation’s technological know-how with the VC fund’s investment expertise. 

There is already potential for a co-sponsored hacker house and accelerator centered on Web3 gaming.  

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