Web3 Company DEA Partners with Rakuten Group

Singapore, Nov 18th, 2022 — Digital Entertainment Asset (DEA), a Singapore-based global Web3 entertainment company that operates the PlayMining NFT gaming platform, announced today that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Rakuten Group for a collaborative partnership in the Web3 domain. Additionally, Rakuten Group’s corporate venture capital arm Rakuten Capital is making a minority investment in DEA by subscribing to share acquisition rights.

Rakuten Group is a global tech company that provides more than 70 different services spanning e-commerce, fintech, digital content, mobile carrier business, other communications services, and professional sports. Rakuten is the development power behind Viber, the popular messaging application, was an early adopter of the Web3 space and has already launched businesses such as the NFT marketplace and sales platform “Rakuten NFT,” one of Japan’s leading NFT platforms, and its crypto asset trading exchange “Rakuten Wallet,” which supports Bitcoin and a range of cryptocurrencies. The partnership will see DEA and Rakuten collaborate on potential synergies in their respective businesses to enhance the value of their services further.

“We have decided to invest in DEA because of the company's proven track record on the world stage in the fast-growing Web3 domain under the leadership of an experienced management team,” said Hiroshi Takasawa, President of Rakuten Capital. “I am looking forward to working together with DEA on several Web3 business initiatives through this investment. We expect that Rakuten Group's membership base, brand and business experience, and expertise in related areas and DEA's experience in GameFi, token economy, and Metaverse business promotion will contribute to the future business growth of both companies.”

“We are very proud to enter a business agreement with Rakuten Group, a powerful name in the Japanese tech industry, and we look forward to building great things together,” said DEA co-founder and co-CEO Naohito Yoshida. “Our companies have a great number of synergies that we can explore to collaboratively create top-notch Web3 content.”

Uniting Toward Common Web3 Goals

Digital Entertainment Asset (DEA) operates the PlayMining GameFi platform, which features a catalog of Play-to-Earn (P2E) NFT games, including Job Tribes, Cookin’ Burger, Menya Dragon Ramen, and the recently launched Graffiti Racer. The platform has a robust NFT marketplace featuring hot content from household names among Japanese anime and video game fans, and a Metaverse initiative is developing. DEA also features DEAPcoin ($DEP), the first and currently only P2E token officially approved by Japan’s Financial Service Agency. By having an NFT market, a token, and a GameFi and metaverse platform in one place, PlayMining can offer IP monetization opportunities to third-company game studio partners.

“Our vision for DEA is to become the world’s top Web3 entertainment company. Our agreement with Rakuten will go a long way towards helping us work toward this goal by increasing adoption of Play-to-Earn gaming,” said DEA’s other co-founder and co-CEO, Kozo Yamada. “The best way to help promote the mainstream adoption of Web3 content is for more competition to enter the space and bring in new users. There is room in this market for all of us!”

About Rakuten Group

Rakuten Group, Inc. (TSE: 4755) is a global internet service leader that empowers individuals, communities, businesses, and society. Founded in Tokyo in 1997 as an online marketplace, Rakuten has expanded to offer services in e-commerce, fintech, digital content, and communications to approximately 1.6 billion members worldwide. The Rakuten Group has over 30,000 employees and operations in 30 countries and regions. For more information, visit https://global.rakuten.com/corp/.

About Digital Entertainment Asset (DEA)

Digital Entertainment Asset Pte. Ltd. (DEA) is a Singapore-based Web3 Entertainment company with a global GameFi and metaverse platform business called PlayMining, founded in August 2018. DEA is a developer of Play-to-Earn games and also operates the PlayMining NFT game platform, the PlayMining NFT marketplace, the PlayMining Verse Metaverse project, and DEAPcoin, the only P2E token currently approved by the Financial Service Agency of Japan. The team is headed by two co-CEOs — Naohito “Goro” Yoshida and Kozo Yamada — who bring decades of experience in founding successful startups (with 3 IPOs by Naohito), creating hit video games, producing Web TV programs and a deep understanding of NFT gaming.

About PlayMining

PlayMining is a Web3 entertainment platform that empowers creators who would otherwise benefit very little in the traditional IP creation industry. The PlayMining platform is a new business model for content creation, featuring an NFT Marketplace powered by the PlayMining DEAPcoin, paired with an NFT game and Metaverse platform with both in-house games and third-party projects with their native tokens that allow creators to capture the value they create. The PlayMining platform has 2.5 million users and a catalog of Play-to-Earn game titles, including Job Tribes, Cookin’ Burger, Menya Dragon Ramen, and Graffiti Racer.