Mino was started in 2011 – at the time my cofounder and I were just 18 and 21 and we'd just grown up from a childhood that had been shaped by video games. We fervently believed that gaming would make the world happier and more connected, and that mobile gaming would be the catalyst. We set out on a mission.

What came next was a decade long adventure – one in which two kids would raise $8m, build four successful games (MinoMonsters, Minomonsters 2, Cat Game and Dog game), generate over 60mm in revenue and grow a team of 100 very happy, passionate employees.

Ultimately, our teenage prediction came true – mobile gaming revolutionized the industry. The market cap doubled to 175BN and gaming grew from what was once a niche male audience to a worldwide phenomenon (Cat Game is 95% female!). Entirely new industries around streaming and esports emerged, and gaming became a foundational part of pop culture. The world was becoming happier and more connected through gaming.

And yet the excitement I felt a decade ago is nothing compared to what I feel now. An even larger tectonic shift in gaming is unfolding in plain sight. Blockchain technology has already begun to transform how people play games – for the first time ever, people are making real money by just playing games. It's hard to overstate how much this will change everything.

Our audacious prediction at Mino is that playing games, humanities favourite past time, will also become it's economic future. It is going to be possible to be employed, start business, form companies, issue loans and get rich by playing games. As this happens, people will flood to the digital world to play and earn together. Humanities material desires and aspirations will turn into digital ones. Gaming will become a double digit percentage of the real world economy, and multiple trillion dollar economies will grow from gaming. Wealth will be redistributed to emerging economies, not out of charity, but because everyone has access to play games.

This will be a far more fun and leisurely life than anything our species has seen before – we will be able to choose what games we want to play, and who we want to play with. Earning income from playing games will help bring families closer, build new friendships, and forge tight communities.

It's a future we have seen first hand in tens of thousands of dedicated players of our game Cat Game, who built communities, forged real friendships and supported one another through the psychological challenges of a pandemic. All this happened in a simple game about collecting cute cats.

It's been over ten years since we started Mino Games, and we've now raised $15m to double down on this original mission of bringing the world together through games. We’ll be leveraging our considerable resources and expertise to pioneer this new industry with innovative games. We want to discover the next 30 golden mechanics that shape the future of gaming.

For those that share our vision and passion – we want to work with you. We are recruiting the best people we can find to go on this journey together to bring the world together through gaming.