Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands has raised another $75.3 million, boosting the value of the blockchain company to $5.5 billion despite the crypto crash.
The firm – founded by Australian videogaming entrepreneurs – said the funding was backed by Liberty City Ventures and Kingsway Capital.
Animoca Brands has invested in more than 340 companies to build its vision of a “metaverse” based around blockchain technology.
Virtual assets can be bought and sold in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) using cryptocurrencies, according to Animoca’s model.
But the latest funding was delayed because some investors were worried by the collapse of TerraUSD and its impact on crypto markets, Animoca’s co-founder Yat Siu said.
Top cryptocurrency bitcoin fell 57% in the first half of 2022 as investors ditched riskier assets.
Investors fear contagion across crypto markets as some crypto lenders had frozen customer withdrawals and crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital entered liquidation last month.
The cryptocurrencies and NFTs used in blockchain-based virtual world games surged in 2021 as speculators piled into digital assets and the metaverse became a tech buzzword.
But the tokens have dropped so far this year because this metaverse has yet to be widely adopted. NFT sales volumes fell sharply last month.
“Our investors have a very long view,” said Siu, who compares the development of a crypto-based metaverse to the adoption of the internet or mobile phones.
- Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell
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