https://ift.tt/3tDOeRi Brands raises $358 million to grow the open metaverse

In the latest round of funding, Australian metaverse company Animoca Brands raises over $358 million, 358,888,888 to be exact – 8 being considered a lucky number in many parts of Asia and the crypto community at large – at a slightly beyond $5 billion pre-money valuation.

The round was led by Liberty City Ventures, with other investors including 10T Holdings, C Ventures, Delta Fund, Gemini Frontier Fund, Gobi Partners Greater Bay Area, Kingsway, L2 Capital, Mirae Asset, Pacific Century Group, ParaFi Capital, Provident, Senator Investment Group, Sequoia China, Smile Group, Stable Asset Management, Soros Fund Management, Wildcat Capital Management, Winklevoss Capital, and others.

Building digital property rights

According to a press release, the new capital will be used to continue funding strategic acquisitions and investments, product development, and licenses for popular intellectual properties.

Animoca Brands, perhaps best known as the company behind The Sandbox virtual reality game and its SAND token, is working to build the open metaverse by bringing digital property rights to online users through the use of blockchain and NFTs to drive in-game rewards and monetization in video games.

During the course of 2021, Animoca Brands raised $216.28 million, while its subsidiary The Sandbox completed a capital raise of $93 million in November. The metaverse market size is expected to grow to around US$829 billion by 2028.

Tyler Winklevoss: We have tremendous conviction

Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands commented:

“We are pleased to see continued and growing support from influential and strategic investors for Animoca Brands’ mission to deliver true digital property rights and build the open metaverse.  We have set ourselves the ambitious goals of building an open Web3 and facilitating an open metaverse that expands financial inclusion. In 2021 we saw tremendous growth in this space and Animoca Brands has been one of the forefront leaders in the development of this industry. 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,”

Tyler Winklevoss, founder of Winklevoss Capital and Gemini and one of the investors, commented:

“Animoca Brands has built and developed leading brands in the decentralized gaming and metaverse space. We have tremendous conviction in its vision and are excited to support its mission.”