London, Europe Brief News – Animoca Brands, a metaverse game business, announced on Tuesday that it has secured almost $360 million in a fundraising round headed by Liberty City Ventures, putting the company at more than $5 billion.
Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based Australian firm, engages in and develops blockchain-based online virtual environments in which commodities such as property are purchased using non-fungible currencies.
It has made over 150 investments in NFT and metaverse-related businesses.
People can purchase land, wander about as characters, play games, and catch up with friends in numerous so-called metaverse worlds.
Last year, the phrase became a technology and industry catchphrase. Facebook changed its name to “Meta” to signify its dedication to the subject. It resulted in a rush of investments in metaverse-related startups and a boom in metaverse companies’ cryptocurrencies.
However, NFTs have become more popular, with sales expected to reach $25 billion by 2021.
Yat Siu, chairman, and co-founder of Animoca Brands has been outspoken in his belief that the growth of “Web3” or the metaverse is contingent on people’s ability to own blockchain-based property.
On the leading marketplace OpenSea, Animoca Brands earns around 7.5 percent of every purchase of their NFTs. According to industry analyst DappRadar, the biggest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, has witnessed about $3 billion in sales in the last month.
Animoca Brands said that; it would utilize the revenues from the sale of 111,173,515 stocks, valued at $358,888,888, for purchases, expansions, product design, and licensing of valuable intellectual property.
Liberty City Ventures, an investment firm, sponsored the funding effort. Other participants included Gemini Frontier Fund, Sequoia China, and Winklevoss Capital.
According to the firm, Siu will own around 7.3 percent of Animoca Brands following the new fundraising round, revealed at a shareholder conference last month.
Tyler Winklevoss, director of Winklevoss Capital and Gemini, said, “Animoca Brands has established and grown top brands in the decentralized gaming and metaverse industry.”
“We believe strongly in its purpose and are eager to help it achieve it.”
As per the corporation’s audit financial documents, it has holdings of digital content, such as crypto tokens, valued at $15.9 billion at the end of November 2021, rising from $2.9 billion at the end of September 2021.
In 2021, Animoca Brands acquired $216 million.
SoftBank sponsored a $93 million fundraising round in The Sandbox. It was a unit of Animoca Brands in November.
According to Coinbase, the Sandbox’s coin, “SAND,” has increased by more than 8,500% in the last year.
