Pillz, the developer of wearable devices for NFT-collectibles and NFT-gaming, raised a pre-seed round from Xsolla and its Founder Aleksandr “Shurick” Agapitov.
Aleksandr Agapitov, Xsolla founder and Pillz Board of Directors member, said:
“Pillz represents what I always look for in teams – a passion for changing the world and a vision to do it. The next revolution in web3 is happening in hardware, and. I’m happy to be a part of it with the team at Pillz.”
Marat Saakyan, CEO of Pillz, added:
“Together with our strategic partner Xsolla we are laying the foundation for web3 infrastructure, merging digital with physical.”
Wearables of the future “are phygital, and Pillz enables people to wear their NFTs as an accessory.”
Pillz is “an extension of a digital identity – the fashionable device makes NFT-collectibles and NFT games tangible so users have a deeply immersive experience interacting with their NFTs in physical reality.”
Users can “upload to Pillz NFTs they own without transferring the token to the device, only verifying its ownership.” As noted in the update, the fashion and jewelry brands have the opportunity “to collaborate with Pillz creating their limited NFT collections and producing unique accessory designs.”
As explained in the announcement, the functionality of the device also “allows users to interact with characters from NFT games.” Pillz presents “its own game – environment to breed, grow and progress digital pets. Each device comes with its own unique character.”
Shurick reportedly “built a $3 Billion video game payments powerhouse with his industry-leading company Xsolla that currently runs the video game payment world.”
He founded Xsolla in 2005, “which allows video game producers to sell in-game items in exchange for a 5% portion of each sale.” His clients “include Epic Games Store, Ubisoft, Twitch, & hundreds more.”
He also recently “launched the creator economy monetization platform X.LA Foundation which allows Web3 & metaverse builders to earn money as they create spaces in the virtual world.”
Shurick’s mission with X.LA is “to democratize wealth building and revenue distribution for IP creators, owners, and holders who are powering the Metaverse and Web3, the same way he pioneered for video game creators.”
Pillz aims “to be the leading phygital ecosystem for people to interact with their NFTs in real life, extending their digital identity.”