The Hong Kong-based mobile gaming and blockchain start-up is looking for investors to fund its move into the metaverse.
Animoca President Seeks Metaverse Investors
While speaking at a panel at the Cyberport Venture Capital Forum, Animoca’s president, Evan Auyang, said that the company is looking for its next round of funding to help it participate in the metaverse industry.
Auyang said,
“We’re going to raise our next round right now, so at a higher valuation, obviously. So a lot of my life right now is just seeing investors, and there is a lot of interest.”
Auyang had also expressed that the company is looking for investors with an explicit interest in developing the open metaverse to enable cross-platform ownership of assets, interoperability, and composability.
Previous Fundraising Rounds
Earlier this year, Animoca Brands had raised a whopping $138.88 and was valued at $1 billion. The valuation had made the company Hong Kong’s ninth startup unicorn. The company held its second round of funding in October 2021, where it raised $65 million and doubled its valuation at over $2 billion. Additionally, Animoca subsidiary, The Sandbox, is also on its own journey to evolve into an NFT-based open metaverse. On Tuesday, it raised $93 million in its latest round, led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.
Auyang has also clarified that another round of fundraising is needed by Animoca so soon after their previous round in order to cement its position as a powerful contender in the metaverse arena.
“To continue our influence and actually advocating for an open ecosystem, we need to have the same influence on the capital side to make sure we can have the power to deploy capital. That would not only grow our own philosophy, but also our own universe of ecosystem that we see as a mode of open metaverse.”
With the recent evolution of Facebook into the Metaverse Platforms, the spotlight is bright on all metaverse development platforms. As a result, investors are keen to fund such projects, and the SoftBank – Sandbox investment partnership indicates that Animoca Brands will soon have an equally successful round of fundraising.
VC Investments On The Rise In Hong Kong
There has been a record amount of venture capital investments in Hong Kong this year, with a total of $1.7 billion raised in the first nine months alone. KPMG China partner Irene Chu spoke about how the market had made an impressive recovery after the disruption of 2020.
Cyberport chairman Dr. George Lam also pointed out that the cumulative amount of investments raised this year ($2.4 billion) is significantly higher than last year ($1.7 billion). He believes that the increase in investments indicates a vote of confidence from investors who are interested, more than ever, to keep funding innovative startups.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
