Animoca Brands, an investor in non-fungible token (NFT) and metaverse projects, is partnering with global venture accelerator Brinc to launch the Guild Accelerator Program.

Under the leadership of Animoca’s Richard Robinson, the program will fund up to $500,000 per guild. Among priorities for acceptance will be projects with a focus on sustainability and those that support and give back to player/scholar communities.

“Guilds can help transform education, skill development, agriculture, R&D and almost any industry where access to tools and assets historically prevented anyone with time to innovate, up-skill and thus earn a living,” said Manav Gupta, founder of Brinc.

The Guild Accelerator Program comes as the play-to-earn (P2E) industry has boomed over the last year – Axie Infinity leading the way with more than $2 billion in trading volume just in the third quarter of 2021.

Crypto-related gaming guilds offer users the necessary funding and tools needed to play blockchain-based games, as some have significant barriers to entry, such as high starting fees. In return for providing the necessary funds or tools, the guild takes a cut of the earnings made from playing the P2E game.

The Guild Accelerator Program will operate within Launchpad Luna, an accelerator launched in 2021 by Brinc and Animoca. Applications are open until the end of February, and the first cohort is scheduled to start in May.

Mentors and experts supporting the Guild Accelerator Program include Saruboti Sasuke, head of partnerships at Yield Guild Games; Howard Xu, co-founder of the Vietnam-based guild Ancient8 and Brendan Wong, founder of Avocado Guild.