Crypto firm Animoca Brands cuts target for new funds again – sources
By Josh Ye
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong-based blockchain game developer Animoca Brands has cut the target of its so-called metaverse fund by 20% to $800 million, people familiar with the matter said, in a further scaling back of its ambitions after volatility in the crypto sector.
Animoca Brands said in November it was working on a new Animoca Capital fund with a $2 billion target, but then halved its target in January to $1 billion. It recently cut its target by another 20% to $800 million, two people familiar with the matter said. The sources declined to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Animoca Brands was valued at about $6 billion last July after a funding round led by Singapore-based Temasek, but has seen its shares trade at a much lower value in secondary markets recently, with its market capitalization falling below $2 billion, two other people said.
The company, which was listed in Sydney until 2020, now trades its shares on PrimaryMarkets, a private secondary stock trading platform. Latest data on the platform shows the company’s market value was just under A$1.9 billion ($1.26 billion) earlier this week.
A spokesperson for Animoca Brands declined to comment on its fundraising plans. He said the company was aware that the shares were trading at a discount on PrimaryMarkets, but that the platform did not provide a reliable value indicator.
Animoca’s cut to its fundraising target and falling valuation reflect a change in sentiment in the crypto industry as excitement around such technologies has lost steam following scandals stemming from the collapse of the FTX exchange to the bankruptcy of several crypto lenders.
Animoca Brands was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange in 2020 by the regulator due to its aggressive expansion into the cryptocurrency industry.
Its expansive presence in crypto later positioned it to become a crypto giant in 2021 and 2022 at the peak of the crypto boom, with a series of major investments that boosted its valuation by nearly 600%.
In January, its co-founder Yat Siu told Reuters the company had invested in more than 380 companies including Axie Infinity and OpenSea to build its vision of a “metaverse” based on blockchain technology, where users can buy and trade digital assets in the form of non- fungible tokens.
($1 = 1.5058 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Brenda Goh and Susan Fenton)
