Animoca Brands is a Hong Kong-based developer and publisher of video games and blockchain technology with a strong focus on venture investment. Set up in 2015 as a spin-out from smartphone app developer Animoca, the unit is led by Yat Siu, a long-time technology entrepreneur and investor.
Recent investments made by Animoca Brands include involvement in a $60m series A round for Everyrealm, a metaverse developer, and participation in the $450m venture round for Polygon Technology, a platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development based in India. To date, Animoca Brands has made nearly 140 investments and has had five exits, including games publisher iCandy Interactive.
Speaking in January this year as Animoca Brands announced its own $359m funding round – involving lead investor Liberty City Ventures as well as 10T Holdings, C Ventures, Kingsway Capital, Mirae Asset and Pacific Century Group, among others – Siu 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.”
Siu began his career at Atari Germany in the early 1990s before moving to Hong Kong to establish Outblaze, a social media and messaging service developer. In 2009, part of Outblaze was sold to IBM with the remaining business pivoted to become an incubator for entrepreneurs and companies in digital entertainment – one of which became Animoca.
