Metaverse startup Animoca Brands hits valuation of over $5 billion with new funding

Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based metaverse startup focused on NFTs and gaming, has raised $358.88 million in new funding round and is now valued at over $5 billion.

Liberty City Ventures led the round, with several other investors participating, including Soros Fund Management, Sequoia China, 10T Holdings, Mirae Asset, Pacific Century Group, ParaFi Capital, and Winklevoss Capital.

With fresh capital in hand, Animoca Brands plans to continue funding acquisitions and investments and further develop its gaming products.

The company's major blockchain game projects include The Sandbox, the upcoming Phantom Galaxies game, the REVV token ecosystem (including REVV Racing, F1® Delta Time, and Formula E: High Voltage), the Arc8 platform, as well as the TOWER, LMT, BONDLY, and PROSPER token projects, among others.

As for its investments, Animoca Brands has already invested in more than 150 NFT and metaverse-related companies, including OpenSea, Dapper Labs, Yield Guild Games, and Axie Infinity.

"We have set ourselves the ambitious goals of building an open Web3 and facilitating an open metaverse that expands financial inclusion," said Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands. "We believe we are still at the initial stages of a new Internet revolution, and there are tremendous opportunities ahead of us in 2022 and beyond.”

Animoca Brands issued a total of 111,173,515 new shares at a price of around $3 per share in the latest funding round. The company now has a total of 1,794,128,323 fully paid ordinary shares on issue.

The latest round brings Animoca Brands' total funding to date to over $500 million. The company has previously raised more than $216 million. Its subsidiary, The Sandbox, separately raised $93 million recently.