Karate Combat Raises $18M for Crypto-Connected Fighting League
Karate Combat, which mixes CGI broadcasts with a crypto-backed fan engagement system, recently completed an $18 million raise, led by BITKRAFT Ventures, to expand its vision of an alternative martial arts competition.
In May, Karate Combat will launch an app and its own blockchain token, $KARATE. The digital coins can be earned by predicting fight winners and used to determine league strategy including resource allocation and rule changes, according to the organization’s documents.
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“Sports league value largely emerges from the quality of the competition, and the passion and loyalty of the fan base. Karate Combat is leveraging its Web3 tools and ethos to shift how fans engage with their favorite sports by building direct relationships, aligning incentives, and enabling influence over every aspect of the league,” BITKRAFT partner Carlos Pereira said in a statement. “More than that, it’s doing it with an incredibly fresh and differentiated media that strikes all of its fans as ‘videogames meet MMA.’”
In the past, Karate Combat has made a name for itself by leaning into virtual effects that put its fights inside video game-like environments for viewers. The fights are streamed on digital channels such as YouTube and Instagram.
Karate Combat co-founder Robert Bryan said many traditional funds “didn’t have the flexibility” to invest in the company because it embraced a blockchain-based strategy, even if it’s not tied to the price of crypto assets, per se. The concept has been built over the last year-plus.
“Once we found the right group of funds, we actually had very solid reception,” he said in an interview. “We went out right after the FTX collapse, so it wasn’t the best time, but I think because what we were doing was so unique, we were still able to gain significant traction.”
WWE and UFC’s merger was the latest major move in a fight sports category that has seen significant growth. Upstarts like the Professional Fighters League and All Elite Wrestling, in addition to Karate Combat, have looked to carve out their own audiences. Bryan said roughly 30% of the sport’s fans are in the U.S., followed by Europe and Brazil.
In addition to its new-age elements, Karate Combat hopes to separate itself with its full-contact version of the martial art—”a sport that has the fun action of combat sports,” Bryan said, “but also has the cultural values that are represented by martial arts.”
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