Acorns Co-Founder Walter Cruttenden Launches Funding for New Company

Blast, a gamification company that aims to unlock ways to help the world’s 2.6 billion gamers save and earn money while playing games, announced the raise of a $5 million seed round. Investors in the round include the Forbes and Roth families, Core Innovation Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Snowmass Private Equity, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and others.

Blast was founded by Walter Cruttenden, chairman and co-founder of Acorns, a leading personal finance company that allows individuals to round up purchases and automatically invest the change. The new startup helps gamers accumulate money in their player wallets. Blast is currently in closed beta and will launch soon.

“Imagine a world where more and more people can earn money and build wealth by doing things they love. This will naturally occur as companies gamify their work processes and requirements,” said Cruttenden. “The recent advances and cost reductions in micro-payments and transfers makes this possible and can improve outcomes (and literally income) for the 500 million people that already have micro-investing accounts. Blast’s app provides a simple platform to do this in the gaming and esports space while playing games.”