Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based mobile gaming and blockchain unicorn, raises US$65 million as valuation doubles to US$2.1 billion
- The start-up aims to use the proceeds to fund strategic investments and acquisitions, product development, and licences for intellectual property
- The funding included investment from Ubisoft Entertainment, Sequoia Capital China and Dragonfly Capital
The funding included investment from Ubisoft Entertainment, Sequoia Capital China and Dragonfly Capital. The latest fundraising was based on the company’s pre-money valuation – how much it was worth before money was invested in it – of US$2.1 billion.
The company aims to use its latest capital injection to fund strategic investments and acquisitions, product development, and licences for intellectual property.
Founded in 2014 by Yat Siu and David Kim, Animoca is one of Hong Kong’s best-known mobile gaming and blockchain companies. The start-up and its subsidiaries have a growing portfolio that includes games, blockchain games and investments in various blockchain companies related to non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
NFTs are digital assets that have a blockchain-based signature that guarantees their ownership and authenticity. They have recently become popular among investors and artists, who have made millions by trading NFT-based digital items online. In March, auction house Christie’s sold the NFT artwork Everydays – The First 5,000 Days for US$69 million.
“I believe that the gaming, art, and music industries are entering a digital renaissance period uniquely enabled by blockchain,” said Mia Deng, a partner at Dragonfly Capital. “Yat and his team have demonstrated vision and foresight from the beginning and we are therefore excited to partner with Animoca Brands to build some of the largest on-ramps of the virtual world,”
Animoca hopes to bring digital property rights to video game players and the metaverse using blockchain and NFTs. One example is its subsidiary The Sandbox, a platform that allows users to create their own games and items, which has a partnership with The South China Morning Post.
The metaverse, a concept that first appeared in the 1992 science fiction book Snow Crash by writer Neal Stephenson, is often described as a shared 3D virtual space and is seen by enthusiasts as the future of the internet. The concept was further popularised by Ernest Cline’s novel Ready Player One and the 2018 Steven Spielberg blockbuster of the same name.
This year, several Western technology firms including Facebook, Epic Games and Roblox have made the metaverse a central concept of their company mission.
According to Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca, a “future” in which NFT adoption in games leads to industries being revolutionised by digital property rights 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,” he said.
