Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming, metaverse and non-fungible token (NFT) company, has closed a capital raise for US$65 million at a pre-money valuation of US$2.2 billion, according to a company statement.
Fast facts
- Investors in the round included Liberty City Ventures, Ubisoft Entertainment, Sequoia China, Dragonfly Capital, Token Bay Capital and Justin Sun, the CEO of TRON. The latest capital raise follows Animoca Brand’s US$138.88 million investment round earlier this year.
- Animoca Brands intends to deploy the fresh capital to fund investments and acquisitions, product development and licenses for popular intellectual properties.
- Animoca Brands and subsidiaries offer a broad portfolio of games. The company’s blockchain game projects include REVV Racing, F1 Delta Time, MotoGP Ignition as well as The Sandbox.
- Animoca is also an investor in other blockchain games and NFT (non-fungible tokens)-related companies that have enjoyed huge recent success, including NFT marketplace OpenSea, play-to-earn sensation Axie Infinity, space strategy game Star Atlas, and Dapper Labs, the creator of CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot. In July, Animoca Brands, together with global venture accelerator Brinc, launched Launchpad Luna, an accelerator program to identify, mentor, and invest in promising blockchain and NFT startups.
- “In 2018 we laid out a strategy based on our assessment that in the future digital property rights would revolutionize industries by expanding financial inclusion, and that this significant change would start with NFT adoption in games. That future is already here,” said Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, in a statement. “With the backing of our new strategic investors, Animoca Brands will continue to advance blockchain in gaming — and beyond — to introduce billions of gamers and Internet users to true digital ownership.”
- Blockchain play-to-earn gaming and NFTs have experienced phenomenal growth this year. The NFT market cap for the top 100 Ethereum collections and NBA Top Shot is estimated at US$14.19 billion, according to DappRadar in its Q3 2021 industry report. Blockchain game Axie Infinity, in particular, has had a meteoric rise and set new records as the most traded NFT collection ever, surpassing US$2 billion in historical trading volume, DappRadar said.