Further Funding

Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based games publisher and a leading investor in NFT game publishing, has announced a further $110 million in funding in a round led by new institutional investors Temasek, Boyu Capital, and GGV Capital. Also taking part in the round were existing investors Mirae Asset Management and True Global Ventures.

Only last month, the Metaverse Insider reported that the company had raised over $75 million to advance its vision of an open Metaverse, reportedly giving the company a valuation of $5.9 billion. Animoca said in a statement that the convertible notes sale values the firm “similarly to its previous funding round.”

Innovative Approach

Since being co-founded in 2014 by Executive Chairman Yat Siu, the company has become one of the world’s leading technology groups in gaming and blockchain by its innovative approach to decentralized in-game rewards and monetization in video games for the emerging open Metaverse. But not only that, as it has invested in over 300 startups, including Dapper Labs, OpenSea and Axie Infinity game creator Sky Mavis.

The details of the round are that it was conducted as a sale of convertible notes issued at a conversion price of AUD $4.50 (just over US$3.00 at present), although it’s subject to conditions concerning a future potential initial public offering (IPO), liquidation event (such as merger or sale), or equity financing round.

Significant Growth

On the financing, Yat Siu said in a statement: “Animoca Brands has grown significantly as a company in the last year, and our new investors will contribute strategic advice and perspective as we build the world’s leading company furthering digital property rights in the Web3 industry.”

Sui, who believes the tech behemoths like Facebook and Tencent are an existential “threat” to an open Metaverse, said that Animoca was “in a hurry” to help establish interoperable tech to counter that perceived risk.