Hong Kong blockchain game company raises $360 million to launch 'Open Metaverse'

Source: Sandbox Twitter

Justin Birnbaum announced blockchain game company Animoca Brands for Forbes, which is at the peak of its blockchain game and non-fungible token development and has raised nearly $700 million, according to developer Xiao Yi of Invest. Our goal is to create an "open metaverse" that not only our business, but also our competitors want on their own.

Animoca Brands on Tuesday announced that it has raised nearly $360 million in a new funding round worth $5.4 billion for the Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming industry. Worth $2.2 billion in October 2021, the company more than doubled its previous value this time around, bringing the total to nearly $700 million. The company plans to spend more money on sourcing, production, and membership licensing.

Financial, a continuation of the development of blockchain games and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), was led by Liberty City Ventures in partnership with Winklevoss Capital and Soros Fund Management.

According to data from NFT sales tracker DappRadar, the NFT market will explode from less than $100 million in 2020 to almost $25 billion in 2021, including gaming-related digital assets by up to 20%. According to news site Axios Gaming, blockchain and NFT game companies earned a total of $3.6 billion in investments last year alone.

Yat Siu, Co-Founder and President of Animoca Brands, said, "We are still in the early stages of transitioning to the new Internet and believe we will have a great opportunity after 2022."

Animoca Brands develops, operates and invests in blockchain games and associated NFT companies, and follows the concept of "real members" by turning all toys into real assets in the form of NFTs. The most popular games are Sandbox and Revv Racing.

Animoca Brands has invested in over 150 NFT, Metaverse and Blockchain companies, including OpenSea, online marketers for NFT, Dapper Labs, developer of NFT "NBA Top Shot", and Sky Mavis and Last, developers of the NFT game Axie Infinity. To do. A week of investment in the Fan Controlled Football League

Animoca Brands was co-developed by Xiao Yi and established in 2014 by Animoca, a mobile game-focused company incubated by Outblaze, a digital communications company developed by Xiao Yi.

After switching to NFT gaming and blockchain in 2017, Animoca Brands was affected by the Australian Stock Exchange where Animoca Brands breached listing rules due to "cryptocurrency interference" and other issues. He was fired in March 2020.

Screenshot from Animoca Brands official website

Since then, things have improved a lot. Last May, Animoca Brands raised $88.8 million in its first two equity tranches worth $1 billion. After securing the second $50 million deal in July, it raised an additional $65 million in October from investors including Sequoia Capital and Ubisoft.

Over the following months, SoftBank made a direct investment of $93 million in Sandbox gaming, and Animoca Brands also partnered with cryptocurrency exchange Binance to develop an incubator and accelerator program. $200 million blockchain games. At the end of the third quarter, Animoca Brands reported revenue of $141 million and other revenue of $530 million, including investments and digital assets. At the end of November, digital savings reached $16 billion.

Animoca Brands isn't the only blockchain gaming company with instant cash. Competitor Mythical Games, which upgraded both games and blockchain technology after it, announced in June that it had raised $75 million, three months after Sorare raised $680 million in three months later, he started his blockchain-based fantasy football game. I raise money. Sky Mavis and Dapper Labs have raised between $152 million and $250 million respectively by the end of 2021 (Animoca Brands is a joint venture between the two companies).

Xiao Yi doesn't care about her competitors. In fact, it is also a challenge for its candidate. "Web 3.0 is a sharing network that may have competition between the two sides, but they need each other," he told Forbes in November.