Australia-headquartered digital entertainment and blockchain technology developer Animoca Brands raised $65m on Wednesday from investors including internet group Smile Group and video game producers Ubisoft and Com2uS.
The round also featured Liberty City Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Dragonfly Capital, Kingsway Capital, 10T Holdings, Token Bay Capital, Tess Ventures, MSA Capital, Octava Fund, Adit Ventures, Summer Capital, Mirana, Black Anthem and Sigitech Holdings.
Private investor Justin Sun made up the participants in the round, which valued Anomica Brands at $2.2bn pre-money, up from $1.14bn following its last round earlier this year.
Animoca Brands utilises blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in online and console games which enable players to own in-game digital assets and potentially earn money through playing. It has also become an increasingly frequent investor in startups.
The company closed its last round at nearly $139m in July 2021, with backing from video game producer Scopely, crypto exchanges Huobi and Coinbase, gaming accessory maker Razer and electronics producer Samsung, the last three through Coinbase Ventures, zVentures and Samsung Ventures.
HashKey’s Fintech Investment Fund also took part in the round, as did Blue Pool Capital, Gobi Partners, Korea Investment Partners, Liberty City Ventures and Token Bay Capital, Octava, Kingsway Capital, RIT Capital Partners, AppWorks Fund, LCV Fund, Ellerston Capital, Perennial Value Management, Axia Infinity Ventures, SNZ Holding, Liberty City Ventures and Metapurse.
M7 Alternative Investment Strategies Asia and Mind Fund were among the investors which had provided $4.7m in funding for Animoca Brands a year earlier.
Yat Siu, Animoca Brands’ co-founder and chairman, said: “In 2018 we laid out a strategy based on our assessment that in the future digital property rights would revolutionise industries by expanding financial inclusion, and that this significant change would start with NFT adoption in games.
“That future is already here. 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.”
