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Animoca brands said it completed the second phase of a $75.3 million financing round from earlier this year, which valued the company at $5.9 billion.
The blockchain game company will use the money to invest in more games and deliver the vision for the “open metaverse†
The current increase is the second tranche of funding announced earlier in January. That round was extended to allow for due diligence processes.
Investors in the current tranche included Liberty City Ventures, Kingsway Capital, Alpha Wave Ventures, 10T, SG Spring Limited Partnership Fund, Generation Highway Ltd, Cosmic Summit Investments Limited and others.
Yat Siuco-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said in a statement: “Digital property rights represent a society-defining generational shift that affects everyone online and will set the stage for the emergence of the open metaverse. We are deeply honored to have strong support continue to enjoy investors as we work to solidify Animoca Brands’ leadership in the Web3 industry and in true digital ownership.”
I asked if there was any strategy behind the timing of the funding. Siu said in an email reply: “The devastating dotcom crash of 2000 did not kill the nascent internet. The horrific financial crisis of 2008 did not stop the explosive growth of the internet, smartphones or mobile gaming. The frigid crypto winter of 2018 has not extinguished the crypto flame All those events seemed brutally terminal at the time, but if you could travel back to 2000, 2008 and 2018 you would have no trouble picking the winning side that seemed inexorably doomed at the time .
He added: “Likewise, current market conditions will not kill Web3, the open metaverse, NFTs or cryptocurrencies. There will be bumps in the road, cyclical variations and the occasional black swan event, but the map to the future is readable by anyone who has a broader and longer view.”
He pointed out that at one point in 2018 and 2019, Bitcoin was around $3,000, and Eth (Ethereum’s currency) was below $100.
“This could be a winter. But if so, then 2018/19 was more like an ice age. We have invested in companies (Klang, Planetarium most recently) and also acquired a company in that time (Tiny Tap), I think our feelings are clear,” he said. “Now is one of the best times to invest from an entry point (and indeed valuation) perspective and we are not alone in this.”
Siu said he is grateful for investors who support the market and believe in the long-term vision. He noted that financing, like all financing, is not about today but about tomorrow.
The company also said: “There was no specific strategy for timing. We have been working on this increase for a while, but it took a little longer to close (as stated in the announcement) due to the due diligence being completed.”
Animoca Brands will use the new capital to continue funding strategic acquisitions, investments and product development, secure licenses for popular intellectual properties and advance the open metaverse, including through its efforts to promote digital property rights for online users.
That won’t be easy as a “cryptocurrency winter” has arrived as crypto prices have fallen, leaving crypto investors and users alike feeling like they don’t have as much money as they used to. Add to that inflation and fears of a recession in the global economy and many in the industry fear that blockchain game companies could run out of money before they get their products to market.
In the first quarter, blockchain games accounted for a third of all game funding, according to Drake Star Partners† And Blockchain game pitches amounted to up to 90% of all pitches coming into gaming VCs. But that could be slowing down now.
Animoca Brands is one of the true believers in the blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) market, which use the blockchain to authenticate unique digital assets. Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 340 investments, including Colossal, Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas and others.
Emil Woods, managing partner of Liberty City Ventures, said in a statement: “Over the next decade, humanity will discover and embrace the game-changing power that blockchain-based digital asset ownership will bring to countless aspects of everyday life. We are here proud to support Animoca Brands, a highly talented team of visionaries and builders at the forefront of this movement, to embrace and deliver on the promise of Web3.”
The company aims to deliver true digital ownership of users’ virtual assets and data, enabling diverse DeFi and GameFi capabilities (including play-and-earn), asset interoperability, and an open framework that can lead to greater equity for all. participants in the open air. metavers.
Manuel Stolz, CEO of Kingsway Capital, said: “The spirit of digital property rights has been left out of the bottle, and the Internet users engaged in this revolutionary technology will not return to the digital servitude that is common in Web 2.0. The long-term growth trajectory of NFTs and similar ownership technology is extremely steep, especially in emerging markets.We are excited to grow our continued partnership with Animoca Brands, which earned its stripes by coming out of the previous crypto winter of 2018-2019 with a much bigger and stronger company .”
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