Lionel Messi Invests in $21M Seed Round of Web3 Startup Matchday

Lionel Messi (seven-time Ballon d’Or winner and four-time UEFA Champions League champion) backed Matchday, a web3 sports startup, in a $21M seed financing round.

Play Time, a venture capital firm founded by Lionel Messi, became an investor alongside Courtside Ventures and Greylock, HackVC. Capricorn Investment Group was also included. Horizons Ventures was also involved.

This is Lionel Messi’s first investment from his new venture firm, Play Time.

Matchday makes video games for football fans that feature players and competitions licensed by FIFA and FIFPRO. It already has a multi-year partnership agreement with FIFA.

Sebastien de Halleux, Matchday’s Chief Gaming Officer stated: “Our games will be accessible for all players and centered around true ownership of digital items that will be a point of pride for all players.”

Matchday isn’t Lionel Messi’s first venture into NFTs. Last month Messi became a brand ambassador and investor in the NFT Game Sorare.

Lionel Messi also joined forces with Socios.com, creators of fan tokens, to become the platform’s first global ambassador.

Web3 and athlete investors are both interesting trends to keep an eye on.

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