Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd. is a Hong Kong–based game software company and venture capital company co-founded in 2014 by Yat Siu and David Kim. The company initially focused on developing mobile games, then shifted to blockchain gaming and NFTs in 2018.[3]
On 15 November 2011, mobile games developer Animoca raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a Series A round led by Intel Capital and IDG-Accel (which tapped its China Growth Fund III).[6] In 2014 Animoca Brands was spun out from Animoca, and the new entity listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in January 2015.[citation needed]
From January to March 2018, Animoca Brands started rolling out Crazy Kings and its sequel, Crazy Defense Heroes generating US$2.8 million in revenue in the first three months worldwide.[7]
In March 2018, Animoca Brands launched OliveX, a fitness metaverse company building mobile games to gamify the fitness industry, which spun off from the company in August 2020.[8]
On 15 August 2018, Animoca Brands raised a $1 million investment from Sun Hung Kai and $0.5 million from strategic partner Lympo.[9] On 18 December 2018, Animoca Brands announced that it had completed a $547,000 placement to institutional and sophisticated investors, a portion of which would be applied towards funding its investment in artificial intelligence accelerator Zeroth.ai.[10]
In May 2019, Animoca Brands raised $2.5 million to fund the development of a blockchain version of the video game The Sandbox, where players can build and monetize their gaming experiences using SAND, the platform’s utility token.[11] Then, in March 2019, Animoca Brands raised another $2.01 million in cash and cryptocurrency for The Sandbox from investors that included Square Enix, B Cryptos, and True Global Ventures.[12]
In September 2020, Animoca Brands launched the blockchain racing ERC-20 utility token "REVV" on Uniswap, which was subsequently listed on various other exchanges.[13]
In May 2021 Animoca Brands raised a first tranche of $88,888,888[14] followed in July 2021 by the second tranche of $50 million, both of which were based on valuation of US$1 billion.[15][16] In October 2021 Animoca Brands raised $65 million at a valuation of $2.2 billion from Ubisoft, Sequoia Capital and others.[17][18] In November 2021, SoftBank led a $93 million investment in Animoca Brands' The Sandbox.[19]
In December 2021, Binance and Animoca Brands launched a $200 million investment program to offer funding for blockchain games.[20]
On 15 March 2022, Animoca Brands announced it would shut down the F1 Delta Time game the next day.[21][22] The game had previously been lucrative, holding the record for the most expensive NFT of 2019 and with some transactions exceeding $300,000. Sales within the game had flat-lined for the two years preceding the game's closure. The company announced plans to replace the game's non-functional NFTs with equivalent tokens for REVV Racing, a separate game which doesn't have Formula 1 branding.[22][23]
On 21 June 2022, Animoca Brands Corporation Limited was convicted on charges of failing to lodge annual and half-yearly financial reports with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.[24]
In July 2022, Animoca Brands hit $5.9 billion valuation.[25] In August 2022, Temasek with GGV Capital led a $110 million funding round for Animoca Brands at a $6 billion valuation to make it “pre-IPO ready”.[26][27] Animoca looks to go public in Hong Kong or Middle East in 2025.[28]
Notable properties
Notable projects and games include:
Phantom Galaxies, REVV Motorsport, Mocaverse, The Sandbox, GAMEE,[29] Benji Bananas, TinyTap,[30] Crazy Defense Heroes, nWay, Notre Game[31] (founded in 2016), Quidd, Animoca Brands Japan, Pixowl, and Be Media.[32]
In July 2016, Animoca Brands acquired TicBits, developer of tower defense games Crazy Kings and Crazy Defense Heroes, for 5.4 million AUD.[46]
In August 2018, the company acquired Pixowl, developer of the video game The Sandbox, for $4.875 million.[47]
In August 2019, Animoca Brands acquired digital collectibles marketplace Quidd for $8 million.[42] In November 2019, the company led a $1.5 million funding round for blockchain game developer Sky Mavis.[48] In December 2019, Animoca Brands acquired Power Rangers game developer nWay for $7.69 million.[43]
In April 2022, Animoca Brands acquired the Lyon-based video game developer, Eden Games.[49] In September 2022, the company acquired MotoGP game developer WePlay Media.[50]
In July 2020, Animoca Brands, through subsidiary nWay, entered into a licensing agreement with WWE to develop a new mobile game on iOS and Android.[56]
Animoca Brands partnered with stc play in 2023 and expanded in the Middle East.[57]
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