China-based gaming and blockchain technology developer Animoca Brands raised about $359m from investors including cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and internet group Smile Group yesterday as it continues to ramp up strategic investments.
Venture capital firm Liberty City Ventures led the round at a pre-money valuation of roughly $5.4bn, investing alongside participants also including 10T Holdings, C Ventures, Delta Fund, Gobi Partners Greater Bay Area, Kingsway Capital, L2 Capital, Mirae Asset and Pacific Century Group.
ParaFi Capital, Provident, Senator Investment Group, Sequoia Capital China, Stable Asset Management, Soros Fund Management, Wildcat Capital Management and Winklevoss Capital were also among the investors.
Gemini took part through its Frontier Fund, and an Animoca spokesperson told TechCrunch that shareholders are divesting shares through secondary placements, though those sales do not represent part of the round.
Founded in 2014, Animoca has built metaverse-based immersive video games using blockchain and non-fungible token (NFT) technology which allows users to buy and trade digital assets during gameplay.
Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca, said: “We are pleased to see continued and growing support from influential and strategic investors for Animoca Brands’ mission to deliver true digital property rights and build the open metaverse.
“We have set ourselves the ambitious goals of building an open Web3 and facilitating an open metaverse that expands financial inclusion. In 2021 we saw tremendous growth in this space and Animoca Brands has been one of the forefront leaders in the development of this industry.
“We believe we are still at the initial stages of a new internet revolution, and there are tremendous opportunities ahead of us in 2022 and beyond.”
Harish Bahl, founder and CEO of Smile Group, added: “Smile is proud to partner with a visionary like Yat Siu and his team. We share his vision of Web3, where true digital property rights will unleash creativity, economic value and entrepreneurship, globally.”
Already an active corporate venturer with more than 150 NFT and metaverse technology groups in its portfolio, Animoca will use the money to conduct further strategic acquisitions and investments. It will also develop additional offerings and purchase intellectual property licences.
The company’s valuation stood at $2.2bn pre-money as of a $65m round in October 2021 featuring Smile Group, video game publishers Ubisoft and Com2uS, Liberty City Ventures, Sequoia China, Dragonfly Capital, Kingsway, 10T, Token Bay Capital, Tess Ventures, MSA Capital, Octava Fund, Adit Ventures, Summer Capital, Mirana, Black Anthem, Sigitech and Justin Sun.
Animoca has since made 47 corporate venturing investments and has this month alone backed blockchain technology developers including IndiGG, Metaplex Foundation, Burnt Finance, nCore Games, Proof of Learn, Wilder World, Fan Controlled Football, Sygnum, CryptoSlam and Neptune Mutual.
Dogamí, Planet Mojo, Space, Efficient Frontier, Rosebud AI, Fantico, Brinc, Moonray PBC, Rumble Kong League and CyBall were among the companies that received Animoca backing in December 2021, as were Rainmaker Games, Yield Guild Games Southeast Asia, Pixelynx, Kepithor Studios, Solace, XY Finance, MetaMundo, Froyo Game, Talewind and LinkBy.
The company also teamed up with cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s Smart Chain unit last month on a $200m blockchain gaming investment vehicle to seek out NFT, crypto and metaverse deals. It had formed a joint NFT and blockchain-focused accelerator dubbed Launchpad with Brinc in July 2021.
Animoca’s rapid increase in valuation together with its corporate venture capital portfolio comes in the wake of a year in which the NFT sector recorded a considerable expansion in funding and metaverse technology broke out as a key emerging sector, marrying blockchain technology with gaming and online interaction.
Image courtesy of Animoca Brands Co Ltd.
