The crypto game company Animoca Brands achieves a value of 5.5 billion dollars after a collection of 75 million dollars

LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) – Blockchain game developer Animoca Brands has raised $ 75.3 million following a fundraising campaign that now values ​​the company at $ 8.2 billion ($ 5.5 billion) even as the market collapses from a collapse in cryptocurrency prices.

Animoca Brands – an Australian company based in Hong Kong – said the increase was the second part of a round of 360 million dollars in January. read more

The latest increase, which was supported by investors including Liberty City Ventures and Kingsway Capital, was delayed because some investors were worried about the collapse of TerraUSD and its impact on the cryptocurrency markets, said Animoca co-founder Yat Siu. read more

Top cryptocurrency bitcoin fell 57% in the first half of 2022 when investors threw away more risky assets. Investors fear contagion across crypto markets as some crypto borrowers have frozen customer withdrawals and crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital went into liquidation last month. read more

Animoca Brands has invested in more than 340 companies to build its vision of a “metaverse” based on blockchain technology, where virtual assets can be bought and sold in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFT) using cryptocurrencies.

The cryptocurrencies and NFTs used in blockchain-based virtual world games increased in 2021 as speculators flocked to digital assets and the meta-verse became a technological buzzword. But tokens have fallen so far this year, as this metaverse has not yet been widely used. NFT sales volumes fell sharply last month. read more

“Our investors have a very long view,” said Siu, who compares the development of a crypto-based metaverse to the use of the Internet or mobile phones.

Siu said that Animoca’s investors see the meta-verse as “Web3” – a new stage in internet development.

“If true, then this is a blip – a meaningful blip in the circumstances – but it will not affect the future 5-10 years along the way.”

In its latest accounts in April, Animoca, which is also backed by Sequoia China and Coinbase Ventures, said the investment portfolio was worth $ 1.5 billion while the reserves of digital assets such as gaming-related cryptocurrencies and NFTs were worth $ 4.2 billion.

($ 1 = 1.4863 Australian dollars)

Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft, editing by Sinead Cruise and David Evans

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