Hong Kong's Animoca Brands raises $65m at $2.2b valuation
Hong Kong non-fungible token (NFT) company Animoca Brands has raised $65 million from a group featuring Sequoia Capital China, more than doubling its pre-money valuation since May to $2.2 billion.
A mix of generalist and specialist blockchain investors took part in the latest round, including Liberty City Ventures, Ubisoft Entertainment, Dragonfly Capital, Kingsway Capital, Token Bay Capital, Tess Ventures, MSA Capital, Octava Fund, Adit Ventures, Summer Capital, and Sigitech Holdings.
It follows an $88.9 million round at a pre-money valuation of $1 billion in May that featured Kingsway, Liberty City, and Octava, as well as Ellerston Capital, AppWorks Fund, and HashKey. That investment was extended with a $50 million tranche in July that included Liberty City, Token Bay, and the likes of Gobi Partners, Korea Investment Partners, and Samsung Venture Investment Corporation.
Animoca is considered one of the global leaders in NFTs, which are blockchain-based assets designed to be individually unique and irreproducible, unlike interchangeable cryptocurrencies.
The company was founded in 2014 by Yat Siu, a pioneer of Hong Kong’s internet start-up scene, as a traditional mobiles games company. It had significant success with several titles based on international brands before evolving into a more NFT-focused model.
The company's initial applications of the technology were based on the purchase of NFT-based objects within the context of an immersive game. In time the opportunity set is expected to broaden to more universally recognized virtual property rights.
Siu and Animoca’s investors see NFTs as part of a major social movement, whereby people can claim true ownership of digital items that are traditionally controlled by game publishers and technology developers.
“I believe this transaction marks the acceleration of a new era,” Joseph Chee, founder and chairman of Summer Capital, said in a statement. “Animoca Brands is driving the practical applications of advanced blockchain technology and a new way of life.”
Investor interest in NFTs has grown rapidly this year, with application expectations extending well beyond the gaming space to encompass inclusive crypto economies and new platforms for branding, product development, and ticketing. Recent activity includes a $10 million round for China-based Cybertino Lab and a $152 million round for Vietnam’s Axie Infinity.
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