One thing is for sure: Animoca Brands has always had a nose for investing in the most lucrative metavers and NFT projects. If we had to name only one, The SandBox is undeniably the most striking metaverse project of 2021. Animoca has invested heavily in this project and is looking forward to continuing its momentum in 2022.
Animoca Brands continues to give itself the means to achieve its ambitions
Originally a mobile game developer, Animoca Brands has made a very successful transition into blockchain-based games, metaverse and NFT. And the company has no plans to stop there.
On January 18, 2022, Animoca announced that it has once again finalized a fundraising round worth over $358 million. According to the same release, this brings the company’s valuation to approximately $5.44 billion.
This latest round of financing was led by Liberty City Ventures, along with other investors, such as 10 T Holdings, the Gemini Frontier Fund and the Smile Group.
Already in 2021, Animoca has raised $216.28 million to accelerate its growth in the NFT and metaverse ecosystem. Among other things, these funds have enabled it to develop its own blockchain-based games, such as its Arc8 arcade game platform and GMEE token, or racing games with REVV Racing.
Animoca Brands aims to accelerate its transition into blockchain-based games in 2022
Currently, Animoca Brands, in addition to being a mobile game development company, willingly takes on the role of venture capitalist. In fact, during 2021 Animoca has invested in more than 150 NFT and metaverse-focused companies. Like The SandBox, Animoca has invested in the NFT marketplace OpenSea, in play-to-earn games such as Axie Infinity and Thetan Arena. In addition, Animoca has supported the creator of NFT Dapper Labs. Since these projects have reached all records in 2021, it is easy to understand the optimistic view of Animoca’s co-founder Yat Siu:
“In 2021, we experienced phenomenal growth in this space [metaverse, Web 3.0] and Animoca Brands has been one of the top leaders in developing this industry. We believe we are still in the early stages of a new internet revolution, and that tremendous opportunities will be available to us in 2022 and beyond.”
In addition, the company announced that the amount of the latest fundraising would be spent on both strategic investments and acquisitions, but also on developing its own blockchain games. Thus, 2022 bodes to be another great year for the Hong Kong-based game developer.
However, the NFT and blockchain game market is still in its infancy. To use the parallel made by JP Morgan, it’s like we’re in the “Napster Phase” in the music streaming industry, but in the crypto asset space. In short, there has to be a beginning to everything, even if today’s players will not necessarily be tomorrow’s.
