Animoca Brands is at it again. The mega fundraising action, that is. The blockchain gaming and metaverse-focused firm is a powerhouse investor in crypto startups and has just secured another big haul – US$110 million.

The Hong Kong-headquartered, Australian-founded company today announced that the huge funding sum has been pulled together by a small group of extremely deep-pocketed institutional investors.

The raise was led by Singaporean firm Temasek (US$297 billion net portfolio), as well as Asian-focused alternative assets management company Boyu Capital (US$40b+ assets under management), and global venture capital outfit GGV Capital (US$9.2b AUM).

Existing investors Mirae Asset Management and True Global Ventures also took part in the round.

According to Animoca Brands, which you’ll know from several previous Coinhead articles also happens to be a leading NFT games publisher (see further below), the fundraise took place as a sale of convertible notes issued at a conversion price of AUD $4.50.

(It’s subject, however, to conditions regarding a potential initial public offering (IPO), liquidation event (sale or merger), or equity financing round.)

Animoca Brands says it will “use the new capital to continue to fund strategic acquisitions, investments, and product development, secure licenses for popular intellectual properties, and advance the open metaverse.”

The latter includes Animoca Brands’ broad-ranging efforts to promote digital property rights for online users through, for example, the use of non-fungible-tokens (NFTs).

This strategic consortium of new investors will also provide advice on business issues and capital to Animoca Brands as it continues to grow and build.

Last we checked, after its last similarly large fundraise in July, Animoca Brands was valued at something approximating up to US$5.9 billion. This raise, not to mention the recent Animoca Japan US$45m cash injection, would now push its valuation firmly above that mark.

More than 380 investments, Animoca Brands is on a Web3 mission

Among several major crypto titles including REVV Motorsport and Crazy Defense Heroes, Animoca Brands is the publisher of one of the biggest brand-attracting metaverse gaming platforms in existence – The Sandbox (SAND).

An industry powerhouse in its own right, The Sandbox is aligned with major intellectual property that includes Disney, WWE, The Walking Dead, MotoGP™, Power Rangers and Formula E and many others. Actually HSBC, Snoop Dogg and now Renault, too, which for some reason seems fun to put next to each other in the same sentence.

Other Animoca Brands subsidiaries include Blowfish Studios (which publishes Phantom Galaxies), Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Forj, Lympo, Grease Monkey Games (Torque Drift 2), Eden Games, Darewise Entertainment (which publishes the upcoming blockchain MMORPG Life Beyond), Notre Game, TinyTap, and Be Media (which recently launched the AFL’s Ripper Skipper 2022 NFTs).

Regarding the raise, Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said, “We are incredibly pleased to complete a special strategic round of fundraising comprising several of the most respected institutional investors in the world, and we are honoured by the continued support from existing investors.

“Animoca Brands has grown significantly as a company in the last year, and our new investors will contribute strategic advice and perspective as we build the world’s leading company furthering digital property rights in the Web3 industry.”

If you’ve been following Coinhead for a while, you’ll know Animoca Brands has its digital fingers in multiple tasty metaversal and crypto-gaming pies. It now has a portfolio that includes more than 380 investments, such as Colossal, SkyMavis/Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony and Alien Worlds.

Several of Animoca Brands’ investments have gone on to become big crypto-industry hits, particularly surging through the bull run late last year.

This article was developed in collaboration with Animoca Brands, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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