HK's Animoca Brands raises US$358 million to fund strategic acquisitions

Animoca Brands has completed a capital raise of about US$358 million and is planning to continue funding strategic acquisitions and investments, product development, and licenses for popular intellectual properties. The latest round of funding was led by Liberty City Ventures, with other investors including 10T Holdings, C Ventures, Delta Fund, Gemini Frontier Fund and Gobi Partners Greater Bay Area, to name a few. The brand said currently working to build the open metaverse by bringing digital property rights to online users through the use of blockchain and NFTs.

In 2021, Animoca Brands raised US$216.28 million to power its vision of digital property rights and the open metaverse, while its subsidiary The Sandbox completed a capital raise of US$93 million in November 2021. The company said the global video game market was estimated to generate US$180.3 billion in 2021, while the metaverse market size is expected to grow to around US$829 billion by 2028.

"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," said Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands.

He added, "We believe we are still at the initial stages of a new Internet revolution, and there are tremendous opportunities ahead of us in 2022 and beyond.”

"Animoca Brands is championing a more decentralised, open, fairer, and more inclusive future where everyone can truly own their digital goods and benefit from them accordingly. We are extremely proud to be working with Siu and his world-class team to build the future of asset ownership and management," said Murtaza Akbar, managing partner of Liberty City Ventures.

Animoca Brands has also invested in other companies at the same time. Crypto startup Burnt Finance has raised a US$8M Series A round led by Animoca Brands, which develops and publishes a broad portfolio of blockchain games, traditional games, and other products.

Burnt Finance will now launch its own NFT marketplace, which will feature English, Dutch, and Buy Now auctions, aiming to be a hub for NFTs by integrating decentralised finance functionality, such as NFT lending, liquidity mining with staking incentives, fractionalisation, and game finance.

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