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Animoca Brands’ Japanese Unit Raises $45m

by Blockchain NewsAugust 26, 2022

Animoca Brands’ Japanese unit raised $45 million in financing at a $500 million pre-money valuation.

The Hong Kong-based crypto gaming and web3 firm raised the fund with MUFG Bank – the largest bank in Japan with a 360-year-old history.

Animoca Brands Japan has planned to use the fund to “secure licenses for popular intellectual properties, develop internal capabilities, and promote adoption of Web3 to multiple partners, increasing the value and utility of their branded content while fostering the development of a safe and secure NFT ecosystem in Japan.”

Although Japan is not a crypto-friendly country yet imposing a 30% corporate tax on profit from cryptocurrency holdings, the island-nation is ripe with anime, manga, video games, movies, and musicians, which could be turned into non-fungible token (NFT) services scouring for IPs.

However, tech firms in Japan have been opening up to NFTs. Line launched its NFT marketplace in Japan in April, a plan that was announced last year.

Line users in Japan can now store their NFTs in their Line-powered digital asset wallet and trade them with friends.

According to a report from Blockchain.News, Animoca Brands announced in mid-July that it had raised $75 million in a funding round.

Investors backed the digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification firm at a subscription price of A$4.50 per share for a total of 23,237,058 new shares, according to details of the fundraising.

The report added that the funding round placed Animoca Brands at a pre-money valuation of $5.9 billion enjoined high profile investors, including Liberty City Ventures, Kingsway Capital, Alpha Wave Ventures, 10T, SG Spring Limited Partnership Fund, Generation Highway Ltd, Cosmic Summit Investments Limited, and others.

The funding round is an extension of the $358 million boosts the firm received back in January as its valuation remained pegged at $5 billion at the time.

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Web3 Gaming Firm Planetarium Labs Raises $32m in Series A Funding

by Blockchain NewsJuly 7, 2022

Singapore-based web3 gaming firm, Planetarium Labs raised $32 million in Series A funding led by Animoca Brands.

According to The Block, co-founder and co-CEO Kijun Seo said that this was Planetarium Labs’ first funding and an equity round.

Seo added that the company had started raising the fund last earlier this year and closed it last month.

“Instead of just adding elements of play-to-earn or non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into games, we reimagine community-driven content and provide powerful tools for studios to deeply engage with their players and investors,” said Seo.

Other investors included Krust Universe, Korean tech giant Kakao’s investment arm; WeMade, a South Korean video game developer; and Samsung Next.

Planetarium Labs provides “A-Z tools” for building decentralized games, Seo told The Block. He added that the company was founded in 2018 and is bootstrapped until now; services include incubation, technology and publishing support to web3 gaming studios, primarily focusing on communities.

There are currently 25 people working for Planetarium, and Seo plans to increase the team size to 40 in the near future, The Block reported.

As part of the Series A funding round, Planetarium will also grant a board seat to Animoca Brands, Seo told The Block.

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Tagged : ANIMOCABRANDS / Blockchain / Finance / PLANETARIUMLABS / SERIESA

Animoca Brands Releases Key Unaudited Financial Report, Portfolio investments Worth Over $1.5Bn

by Blockchain NewsJune 7, 2022

Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands has released the company’s key unaudited financial and business highlights for the last three months of 2021 and the first four months of 2022.

According to the report, the blockchain gaming specialist ended bookings and other income of A$213 million (approximately US$148 million) on December 31, 2021, for three months. While A$827 million (approximately US$573 million) was closed on April 30, 2022, for four months.

Bookings include token sales, non-fungible token (NFT) sales and non-blockchain activities. The report added that other income includes gains/losses of investments and digital assets holdings.

The results include contributions from the company’s key business units, including The Sandbox, GAMEE, nWay, Blowfish Studios, Grease Monkey Games, REVV Motorsport, TOWER, Quidd, Lympo, and Forj (formerly Bondly), in addition to blockchain service revenue arising from portfolio investments and partnerships.

As of April 30, Animoca Brands’ portfolio investments were valued at over A$2.2 billion (approx. US$1.5 billion) across over 340 investments. While, the company also had a cash balance of A$141 million (approx. US$98 million) and digital assets holdings of A$304 million (approx. US$211 million) in the form of USDC, USDT, BUSD, ETH and BTC.

Another key financial highlight as of April 30, was that other digital assets holdings of the company included third-party tokens of A$952 million (approx. US$659 million). The company’s digital assets reserves were at A$6.1 billion (approximately US$4.2 billion), which includes the Animoca Brands tokens SAND, QUIDD, PRIMATE, REVV, TOWER, GMEE, and others.

According to the financial report, the company successfully acquired Grease Monkey Games, Darewise, Eden Games, Notre Game and Be Media. Through these purchases, the company aims to strengthen and expand gaming and Web3 capabilities.

Animoca Brands’ also set up new ventures such as AniCube with Cube Entertainment, MetaHollywood with Planet Hollywood and OneFootball Labs with OneFootball.

One of the company’s major partnerships has been the Otherside project with Yuga Labs. The project aims to build the metaverse game of the Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC).

The company also partnered with ApeCoin DAO to launch ApeCoin (APE).

In terms of tokens, Animoca Brands launched the play-to-earn PRIMATE Token for their mobile game Benji Bananas, connected to the ApeCoin ecosystem.

The blockchain gaming company was also successful in expanding business to Japan through their strategic subsidiary Animoca Brands Japan with a seed round of US$10 million.

Recently, Animoca Brands subsidiary Lympo also launched the SPORT token to replace the Lympo utility token LMT.

According to Blockchain.News, the SPORT token has been launched on the MEXC exchange (SPORT/USDT pair) and on the decentralized exchange Quickswap (SPORT/MATIC and other pairs). The SPORT token contract is bridged to Polygon Network and BNB Chain.

Also, in a recent development, the company, along with Blowfish Studios, announced the closure of one of the most anticipated AAA blockchain games.

According to Blockchain.News, the Planet Private Sale for Phantom Galaxies sold 7,734 Planets and Asteroids (“Planets”) for a total of US$19.3 million.

Holders of the Planets – which are NFTs – will gain in-game real estate and utility along with a regular emission of the native cryptocurrency of Phantom Galaxies, Blockchain.News added.

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Tagged : ANIMOCABRANDS / Blockchain / Crypto / Finance / Games / NFT

Animoca Brands Subsidiary Lympo Launches SPORT Token

by Blockchain NewsJune 1, 2022

Animoca Brands subsidiary Lympo launched the SPORT token to replace the Lympo utility token LMT.

The SPORT token has been launched on the MEXC exchange (SPORT/USDT pair) and on the decentralized exchange Quickswap (SPORT/MATIC and other pairs). The SPORT token contract is bridged to Polygon Network and BNB Chain.

The announcement also added that the replacement will reflect the extensive overhaul and enrichment of Lympo’s GameFi ecosystem.

The overhaul will include SPORT token integration into the upcoming basketball manager and spell chess games in cooperation with Magnus Carlsen – the best chess player in the world – and his team.

The new token will also enable engagement in Lympo’s treasury management governed by decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) principles.

The new ERC-20 token was introduced following a security incident earlier in the year. It suffered a cyberattack that duly impacted its hot wallets, leading to a loss of approximately 165.2 million LMT tokens (worth around USD 16.5m before the hack), Blockchain.News.

Lympo is working on a GameFi product suite which will consist of officially licensed athletes’ non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Lympo’s existing products – Lympo NFT Minting and Lympo NFT Staking Platforms – will allow SPORT holders to earn credits, mint NFTs, and stake NFTs together with tokens.

It is aiming to launch its first game later this year. The basketball manager game will include a generative art NFT collection of fantasy and real basketball players as well as the possibility to utilize other Lympo NFTs to upgrade the gameplay.

The company is also developing a blockchain-powered chess-inspired game in collaboration with the Play Magnus Group’s Champions Chess Tour. The announcement added that the SPORT token will serve as a gateway to both of these games.

Lympo will also allocate 2.5% of SPORT’s total token supply and a part of proceeds from its NFT sales to its treasury. The announcement also added that the Lympo LMT tokens will change their utility and become an in-game play-to-earn currency.

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Tagged : Altcoins / ANIMOCABRANDS / Blockchain / Crypto / Gamefi / Lympo

Animoca Brands, Blowfish Studios Announces Closure of Planet Private Sale for Phantom Galaxies

by Blockchain NewsMay 18, 2022

Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands and Blowfish Studios announced the closure of one of the most anticipated AAA blockchain games.

The Planet Private Sale for Phantom Galaxies sold 7,734 Planets and Asteroids (“Planets”) for a total of US$19.3 million.

Holders of the Planets – which are non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – will gain in-game real estate and utility along with a regular emission of the native cryptocurrency of Phantom Galaxies.

Strategic supporters who invested in Phantom Galaxies during the Planet Private Sale included Sequoia China, Liberty City Ventures, GameFi Ventures, Everest Ventures Group, Terrace Tower Group, MDDN Co (Joel and Benji Madden), C Ventures, SMO Capital, Polygon Ventures, Dapper Labs, NFT Live + Cagyjan, Kingsway, 3Commas Capital, Double Peak, Mind Fund, Defi Cap, and others.

Phantom Galaxies is an open-world mech combat game, currently in Alpha, developed by Blowfish Studios.

According to Animoca Brands, the game’s blockchain-based AAA game titles will appeal to both traditional gaming enthusiasts and Web3 natives.

Currently, only three of the four episodes of the Alpha version are available. The access to the Beta launch is expected to occur in Q3 2022.

Animoca Brands said, “there are currently over 125,000 users actively playing the Alpha version of Phantom Galaxies and over 500,000 owners of the NFTs granting access to the Alpha game.” Over 1,700 ETH have been generated by these NFTs in OpenSea.

Planets represent Phantom Galaxies’ user-ownable real estate.

Each Planet will have designated coordinates within the game universe and will have uniquely designed random traits, according to Animoca Brands. Furthermore, owners will be able to monetize Planets by building structures, such as marketplaces and hangars, as well as choosing their Planet’s governance system.

Blowfish Studios is a subsidiary of Animoca Brands. The Sydney-based developer and publisher of high-quality multi-platform games, including Qbism, Siegecraft, Morphite, Projection: First Light, and Storm Boy.

The company’s current projects under development include Phantom Galaxies, MotoGP™ Ignition, and Aradena Battlegrounds.

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Tagged : ANIMOCABRANDS / Bitcoin / Blockchain / Blowfish / Enterprise / NFT / PLANETS

HK-based Gusto Collective Raises $11m in Funding Round Led by Animoca Brands, Gaw Capital

by Blockchain NewsMay 12, 2022

Hong Kong-based Gusto Collective has raised $11 million in its Seed Plus funding round led by Animoca Brands and Gaw Capital.

The company plans to utilise the funds to support its geographic expansion into other parts of Asia, grow Web3 services, products and recurring-revenue product development. Other participants for the funding round include BlackPine, YCI Limited and existing shareholders ClearVue Partners.

Yat Siu, the executive chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands, commented: “Major brands continue to increase their Web3 involvement and capabilities in order to engage with customers in the open metaverse. Gusto Collective has already proven to be adept at partnering with customers for Web3 and augmented reality services.”

Gusto Collective is Asia’s first BrandTech holding company. Founded in 2020, the company consists of four specialisms in Web3 marketing services, an augmented reality experience platform, a metahuman platform and luxury marketing services.

Following the end of this funding round, Gusto Collective has raised $23 million in cumulative external funding since launching in 2020.

Meanwhile, Animoca Brands – one of the biggest names in the gaming and metaverse world – recently announced a partnership with OliveX to run an allowlist campaign for Dustland Runner – the company’s move-to-earn game.

As part of the campaign, users can participate in the mint of Dustland Runner’s Operation Ape: Exclusive Access Pass NFT (“Access Pass”) through the allowlist this May.

Last week, Animoca Brands also announced a partnership with Untamed Planet to develop and publish Untamed Metaverse, a game to help nature conservation efforts.

While in another development, Animoca Brands also unveiled its partnership with OneFootball, and Liberty City Ventures to establish OneFootball Labs as a Joint Venture between the trio, Blockchain.News reported.

Per the announcement, OneFootball Labs will bring football fans a whole new experience powered by blockchain technology. Riding on the broad network of Animoca Brands in the blockchain ecosystem, the new startup will “enable clubs, leagues, federations, and players to release digital assets and fan-centric experiences” on the blockchain.

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Tagged : ANIMOCABRANDS / Blockchain / Finance / GAWCAPITAL / GUSTOCOLLECTIVE / Web3

Animoca Brands Partners with OliveX to Run Allowlist Campaign for Dustland Runner

by Blockchain NewsMay 11, 2022

Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands has announced a partnership with OliveX to run an allowlist campaign for Dustland Runner – the company’s move-to-earn game.

As part of the campaign, users can participate in the mint of Dustland Runner’s Operation Ape: Exclusive Access Pass NFT (“Access Pass”) through the allowlist this May.

Those who complete missions in Dustland Runner will be rewarded with DOSE, the OliveX Fitness Metaverse utility token.

Access Pass holders will gain entry to the Operation Ape mission, which offers additional awards.

The allowlist usually refers to an approved list, also known as a “whitelist”. According to Momentranks, the concept of an allowlist is “similar to an exclusive pre-sale. People who are interested in the project before it mints are put on a special list that guarantees them a minting opportunity, or sometimes for a reduced price. This is done before the public sale.”

Dustland Runner is the world’s first “proof of workout” audio adventure for runners. Users can earn virtual rewards by going on runs in the real world and making progress in the post-apocalyptic game setting narrative.

Virtual rewards are in non-fungible tokens and Dose tokens, which are used to upgrade and progress the adventure.

Animoca Brands said that it will receive 30 allowlist spots for each of its selected projects: The Sandbox, Benji Bananas, Crazy Defense Heroes, REVV Racing, Torque Squad, GAMEE, and MadWorld.

Last week, Animoca Brands also announced a partnership with Untamed Planet to develop and publish Untamed Metaverse, a game to help nature conservation efforts.

While in another development, Animoca Brands also unveiled its partnership with OneFootball, and Liberty City Ventures to establish OneFootball Labs as a Joint Venture between the trio, Blockchain.News reported.

Per the announcement, OneFootball Labs will work to bring football fans a whole new experience that is powered by blockchain technology. Riding on the broad network of Animoca Brands in the blockchain ecosystem, the new startup will “enable clubs, leagues, federations, and players to release digital assets and fan-centric experiences” on the blockchain.

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Tagged : ANIMOCABRANDS / Blockchain / DUSTLANDRUNNER / Enterprise / OLIVEX

Animoca Brands Partners with Untamed Planet to Develop Untamed Metaverse

by Blockchain NewsMay 6, 2022

Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands has announced a partnership with Untamed Planet to develop and publish Untamed Metaverse, a game to help nature conservation efforts.

Untamed Planets also completed a $24.3 million Series A funding round led by Animoca Brands, one of the biggest names in the gaming and metaverse world. The company previously received seed funding from Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar.

The announcement added that the new funding will be used in developing Untamed Metaverse in partnership with Animoca Brands and its subsidiary nWay.

Founded in 2020, Untamed Planet creates nature-based games with Web3 technology that helps in generating funds for driving conservation benefits.

Players in Untamed Metaverse can explore a digital version of the world’s wild landscapes, participate in quests, collect NFT assets and build communities of people passionate about protecting nature.

Untamed Planet claims to be building a sustainable source of donations for nature conservation while providing play-to-earn ad play-to-protect opportunities for Untamed Planet community members.

Scott Bandy, studio head of Untamed Planet, commented: “What excites me about the Untamed Planet mission is the opportunity to merge mainstream gaming with the new prospects that Web3 enables for digital ownership by players in order to drive real-world conservation – this project is epic. We couldn’t have hoped for better partners than Animoca Brands and nWay.”

Recently, Animoca Brands also unveiled its partnership with OneFootball, and Liberty City Ventures to establish OneFootball Labs as a Joint Venture between the trio.

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Tagged : ANIMOCABRANDS / Blockchain / Finance / Metaverse / UNTAMEDPLANET

Animoca Brands’ PRIMATE Token Sees Enlistment on Huobi Global

by Blockchain NewsMay 3, 2022

Animoca Brands announced recently that its PRIMATE Token had been listed on the Huobi Global crypto exchange for trading.

PRIMATE is the native token of Benji Bananas, a physics-based free-to-play mobile arcade game from Animoca Brands. The game has over 50 million downloads and it is connected to the ApeCoin (APE) ecosystem along with PRIMATE. The play-to-earn token has been paired with Tether (USDT).

According to Animoca Brands, Benji Bananas players can earn PRIMATE Tokens only after playing the game while owning a Benji Bananas Membership Pass NFT – which can be purchased on OpenSea, LooksRare and Rarible.

The company for digital property rights for gaming and the metaverse has also announced that PRIMATE is exchangeable on SushiSwap for ApeCoin (APE), REW, TOWER, GMEE, QUIDD, PROS, DOSE, STZ and Ether (ETH).

Benji Bananas is said to be the first provider of utility for APE. On 17 March, the first 5,000 Benji Bananas Membership Pass NFTs went on sale for 25 APE each and sold out in 2 minutes.

Crypto exchange Huobi Global is currently ranked sixth in the list of Top Cryptocurrency Spot Exchanges, according to CoinMarketCap.

In one of its recent developments, Animoca Brands unveiled its partnership with OneFootball, and Liberty City Ventures to establish OneFootball Labs as a Joint Venture between the trio.

While the company’s subsidiary, The Sandbox metaverse, is in negotiations with investors as it looks to raise $400 million in a new funding round.

As reported by Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources close to the transactions, the blockchain startup is seeking a $4 billion valuation. The size of the offering and the market worth may change as deliberations continue.

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Tagged : ANIMOCABRANDS / Blockchain / Crypto / Exchanges / HUOBIGLOBAL

MetaHollywood to Build Largest Hollywood-Themed Metaverse

by Blockchain NewsApril 22, 2022

MetaHollywood is building the largest online community within a Hollywood-themed metaverse following a joint venture between Animoca Brands and the Planet Hollywood Group.

Movie lovers, studios, and creators will be able to interact within the metaverse and it will also consist of a marketplace for digital collectables. The entire experience is powered by blockchain technology and the joint venture’s native utility token.

Planet Hollywood is the creator and worldwide developer of a consumer brand that capitalizes on the universal appeal of movies, television, sports, music and other leisure-time activities.

Animoca Brands commented on the partnership and said that ” The MetaHollywood joint venture will transform the awe-inspiring Hollywood experience into a Web3 metaverse that benefits and reaches more supporters, studios, and creators globally within a virtual environment.”

The MetaHollywood joint venture will help in the creation, ownership, interaction, distribution, and sharing of digital collectables, movies, clips, and other assets as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

“The new platform will provide a community for collectors to own uniquely famous pieces of film history in the form of NFTs as well as to share, interact with, and experience the digital assets in a purpose-built metaverse fueled by the utility of its native token,” Animoca Brands announced.

Over 60,000 of Planet Hollywood’s iconic motion picture memorabilia encompassing all popular film genres will also be tokenised by MetaHollywood.

Planet Hollywood founder Robert Earl, said, “through MetaHollywood, we will offer utility and functionality that is unrivalled in this burgeoning sector.”

While Yat Siu, the co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, commented: “The MetaHollywood joint venture will create tremendous opportunities by leveraging Planet Hollywood’s vast network of celebrities and IPs and combining them with our industry expertise and our broad portfolio of products and companies.”

In another major partnership, Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation has joined The Sandbox – subsidiary of Animoca Brands – metaverse.

Blockchain.News reported that Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation has become the first global transport operator to join The Sandbox metaverse to create new and immersive experiences in the virtual world.

The partnership will allow the local railway company to explore the metaverse and create new and immersive experiences in the virtual world. The MTR Corporation plans to build a railway-focused virtual space in the metaverse to create unique immersive experiences through gamification and engage creators to collectively build this new community platform.

The Corporation has also acquired a plot of land in The Sandbox metaverse where the company plans to build an immersive virtual station. By doing so, the Corporation is particularly targeting to increase interaction with the younger generation through Web3 and metaverse.

The gamified virtual station will be built in replication to the physical railway environment and players will experience an MTR journey that will be more than taking a ride, the Corporation said.

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Tagged : ANIMOCABRANDS / Blockchain / METAHOLLYWOOD / Metaverse / PLANETHOLLYWOODGROUP