Animoca Brands plans $2 billion Metaverse fund to support established projects

The new fund, which will be performance-based for potential investors seeking greater exposure to Web3-related capital, will focus on mid- to late-stage companies.

Animoca Brands plans to launch Animoca Capital fund

Animoca Brands, one of the most recognized companies in the metaverse and NFT ecosystem, has announced plans to launch its own metaverse fund. According to statements made by co-founder Yat Siu at the company’s press conference, it is an investment fund. Nikkei on November 29, the company aims to raise between $1 billion and $2 billion for this new initiative.

Animoca Brands, which has already raised $804 million from several investors in several rounds of funding, aims to place the new funds (once raised) in established metaverse platforms in the mid to late stage of investment, as it seeks to prioritize revenue over development in the Web3 environment, allowing partners to have direct investments in more companies in this area.

On the reasons for this decision, Siu stated:

For many traditional investors, it’s safer to invest in growth to late stage. That’s very different from investing in a seed-stage startup, which has a much higher risk.

The fund will be tentatively named Animoca Capital.

Fundraising

Metavers and Web3 games have been hot topics for investors lately. However, raising money in the wake of FTX’s collapse and under current market conditions is different. However, Siu believes that, while difficult, the position Animoca Brands is in makes this task easier. He explains:

In a bear market, concentration often goes to the market leaders.

In addition, Siu said Animoca believes the metaverse and Web3 gaming can be strong vehicles for crypto-currency adoption, with players who see the function of these platforms differently from crypto-currency traders and speculators.

Animoca isn’t the only company to see the potential of Web3 gaming and the metaverse in the future. On November 29, Game7, a gaming-focused DAO (decentralized autonomous organization), announced the launch of a grant program that will invest $100 million in various areas of the Web3 gaming industry, including tools to help programmers streamline game development.

The company did not offer further details on which players would be interested in investing in this fund or when the proposed instrument would be launched.