Mobile gaming, blockchain unicorn Animoca Brands targets ‘open metaverse’ investors with latest fundraising

The Hong Kong-based start-up needs funds if it is to compete in the metaverse, says company president

Animoca raised US$65 million in a second round of funding in October, with its valuation doubling to more than US$2 billion

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The Sandbox, a gaming platform owned by Animoca Brands, promises a virtual world where players can actually own the digital items they create and collect. Photo: Animoca Brands

Published: 1:30pm, 3 Nov 2021

Hong Kong-based mobile gaming and blockchain start-up Animoca Brands is seeking another round of funding as it vies to compete in the metaverse, its president said.

“We’re going to raise our next round right now, so at a higher valuation obviously,” said Evan Auyang on Tuesday. “So a lot of my life right now is just seeing investors, and there is a lot of interest.”

He was speaking on a panel at the Cyberport Venture Capital Forum.

During another panel discussion, Auyang said he was looking for investors who believe in an open metaverse, describing it as one that allows for cross-platform ownership of assets, interoperability, and composability. The latter refers to a system designed with the inter-relationships of components in mind.

Speaking on the sidelines of Tuesday’s event, Auyang said the company needed a new round of fundraising to become a strong player in the metaverse ecosystem. It needed to keep up with the rising valuations of companies it wished to acquire or invest in, he added.

“To continue our influence and actually advocating for an open ecosystem, we need to have the same influence on the capital side to make sure we can have the power to deploy capital,” he said. “That would not only grow our own philosophy, but also our own universe of ecosystem that we see as a mode of open metaverse.”

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