There’s something new and surprising from the people who brought us Words With Friends and Lucky’s Tale.
Thousands, a revolutionary Web3 protocol that transforms word-of-mouth marketing into a universal attribution infrastructure – together with sister company The Wildcard Alliance – today announced a joint $9 million fundraising round.
Arbitrum Gaming Ventures and Paradigm co-led the round. The McKinney, Texas-based companies, founded by co-CEOs Paul and Katy Drake Bettner whose past work includes Words With Friends, Lucky’s Tale, and Age of Empires, have secured $6.5 million to date and expect to close the remaining funding over the next 60 days.
Wildcard is a third-person, 2v2 Collectible Card Action Game (CCAG) that seamlessly blends fast-paced arena combat with strategic deck-building. As a champion, you battle in real-time, summoning powerful creature-companions from your deck to fight alongside you. Master dynamic abilities, outplay opponents with skillful action mechanics, and harness the power of your summons in a thrilling fusion of collectible card strategy and third-person action combat—all set in a live, interactive arena.
This new funding builds on the companies’ $46 million Series A raised in 2022, and will be usedto accelerate development of their integrated ecosystem of products, utilizing the Thousandsprotocol and Thousands.tv platform to unlock new channels of creator-centric user acquisitionand help launch their own upcoming game, Wildcard.
“It’s simple,” said Paul Bettner, co-CEO, in a statement. “Wildcard only succeeds if its creators and community succeed. So we need a better way to reward these incredible contributors who drive immensevalue to the game. Thousands gives us the on-chain ‘rails’ to solve this problem, to record and reward user acquisition and conversion at every step of the funnel.”
The synergy between Wildcard and Thousands has already demonstrated explosive growth.
The Thousands network recorded over $800,000 in revenue in May 2025 alone, with an average revenue-per-stream of $50,000, average viewer-to-payer conversion of 77%, and a new all-time-high revenue record at $134,000 — metrics that far exceed industry standards.
The Thousands network addresses an untapped, trillion-dollar word-of-mouth economy, by making influence and attribution transparent, programmable, and incentive-aligned. The Thousands network enables creators and communities to earn instantly when their content drives conversions, while IP owners benefit from significantly lower customer acquisition costs compared to traditional channels.
“Thousands is redefining how games and content reach audiences,” said Rick Johanson, founding partner at Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, in a statement. “Their web-native streaming layer – think Twitch meets WalletConnect – allows every connected viewer to become an active participant in an on-chain economy, transforming spectators into engaged users.”
“We believe in this game and we believe in this team,” said Dave White, research partner at Paradigm, in a statement. “Paul, Kate, and team have created one of the most eagerly anticipated games in crypto and we’re very excited for what comes next.”
Since their initial funding, both platforms have achieved significant milestones. Wildcard was recently approved for release on Steam, where the 100k+ community are now playtesting Alpha builds of the game weekly, in preparation for Wildcard’s Early Access release later this year.
These playtests are broadcast on Thousands.tv several times a week, helping to demonstrate the Thousands’ network’s ability to sustain engagement and monetization, with an average revenue per viewer of $141 dollars.
“Thousands doesn’t feel like streaming. It’s no longer a one-way street.”, said Payton Kaleiwahea, content creator and founder of WolvesDAO, in a statement. “Fans and creators are interacting; you’re not just watching the game. You’re connected to it. You’re inside it. With Thousands, being there matters, and that changes everything.”
The companies have 30 full-time employees and another 30 or so contractors.
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