Strider, building a platform to revolutionize how new IP are both developed and owned, has raised $5.5M in a seed round co-led by Makers Fund and Fabric Ventures, with participation from Shima Capital, Sfermion, Magic Eden and other notable funds, bringing the company’s total funding to date to $8.5M. Founded by game industry veterans, including former a16z Partner and TinyCo operations and growth executive Andrew N. Green, former EA Games and Jam City Product Management VP Michael Brozman, former Square Enix and Rockstar Games creative Michael Cala and former go-to-market specialist for TV and film Nick Braccia, the Strider team has deep roots in narrative games and world-class entertainment IP, including Harry Potter, Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Westworld, Dead Space, MARVEL Avengers, Watchmen and Futurama.

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Strider’s mission is to give everyone the gift of being a creative storyteller. Strider will bring people into the heart of story creation through a powerful, fun toolset that includes social features centered around creating a “storyworld.” People will be empowered to collaborate on a storyworld’s characters, settings, history, and all of the lore that unfolds in between in a fast accessible interface. As part of the platform, Strider also aims to give creatives the power to be the owners of their own creations, giving contributors unique opportunities to retain ownership as they build alongside the community. The financing will be used to expand the Strider team and help to bring content creators onto the platform with tools for production and distribution.

“At Strider, we believe that everyone, everywhere, is a storyteller, and creating stories together is a lot more fun than doing it alone,” said Andrew N. Green, co-founder and CEO, Strider. “We are building a space where people can create and share those stories while being rewarded for their contributions. We grew up inspired by the incredible worlds of our favorite games, films and books, and spent years helping to build deep, narrative-driven games. Now, we’re excited to build a platform that gives power to fan communities – to give voice and ownership to anyone who wants to be a part of the creative process. We can’t wait to build stories together. This is a game changer for accessible creativity.”

“Andrew and the team have a bold vision for a platform that enables anyone to create and build aspects of a world and to collaboratively shape a larger universe together,” said Yohei Ishii, Makers Fund. “Strider strips away the barrier to building fully three dimensional worlds, investing in projects and helping build successful new IPs for the entertainment they want to experience.”

“Strider represents the way to a stronger and more loyal community,” said Ian Emerson, Fabric. “We are incredibly impressed by the team’s dedication to give fans more opportunities to contribute to the worlds they want to experience, providing valuable input on story, game mechanics, visual assets and other facets of the world and lore, helping to build games alongside Strider’s community of like-minded creatives using blockchain technology to allow for deeper ownership as they build together.”

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