NFT-centric Animoca Brands becomes tech industry’s newest unicorn

Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based company that delivers digital property rights to gamers via non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has become the tech industry’s newest unicorn after securing $88.9 million in its latest capital raise

The funding round gives Animoca a valuation of $1 billion, enough to take the company to the unicorn stage. London-based Kingsway Capital; RIT Capital Partners (formerly Rothschild Investment Trust); and HashKey Fintech Investment Fund joined the round.

The company said it raised the funding via the issuance of 93.4 million new ordinary fully paid shares of Animoca Brands at a subscription price of A$1.10 ($0.85) per share.

In a statement, Animoca said it will use the fresh funding to fund further acquisitions, develop new products, continue to make strategic investments, and secure additional licenses for popular intellectual properties.

“The funding is a strategic milestone that positions Animoca Brands for further aggressive growth as it continues to bring digital property rights to video gamers through the use of blockchain and NFTs, enabling powerful benefits such as play-to-earn capabilities and digital asset interoperability,” according to the announcement.

Animoca Brands become popular following the success of its blockchain game titles such as F1 Delta Time, The Sandbox, and MotoGP Ignition, as well the launches of their associated tokens, including REVV and SAND.

“This strategic capital raise firmly establishes Animoca Brands as one of the leading and most valuable companies in the NFT space, not just in Asia but globally,” said co-founder and chairman Yat Siu.

The company initially started as a mobile game publisher in 2004 before it branched out to develop NFTs in early 2018. Siu said the latest funding round was “heavily contested” by investors.

Commenting on the investment, Kingsway founder and CEO Manuel Stotz said the emergence of digital property rights, whether via Bitcoin or NFTs, is perhaps the greatest opportunity for financial inclusion for the bottom ~3 billion Frontier & Emerging Market consumers, as well as an opportunity for a more decentralised and thus more equitable global Internet.

“We are proud to support Yat and his talented team at Animoca Brands in making this vision a reality and are honoured to co-invest alongside such a world-class roster of global investors,” Stotz stressed.