In 2014, a humble mobile game studio was born. Today, that same company is one of the biggest institutions in Web3, and their investment portfolio touches upon virtually every major brand in the Web3 industry. That company is Animoca Brands.
Technology, gaming, NFTs, digital collectibles, infrastructure; the hands of Animoca Brands have been behind many significant developments in the blockchain industry over the past decade. What is Animoca Brands, what have they helped to create, and what will they accomplish in the future?
Here’s our complete guide to Animoca Brands.
Key Insights
- Created by entrepreneur and angel investor Yat Siu
- Debuted in 2014, initially as a mobile game studio
- Behind The Sandbox, Mocaverse, and the $MOCA token
- Boasts an investment portfolio of over 380 Web3 companies (as of December 2024)
- Expected to seek a public listing in 2025
What is Animoca Brands?
Animoca Brands was founded in 2014 by serial entrepreneur Yat Siu. Prior to Animoca, Siu held key positions at Atari Germany and Lexicor before founding webpage and email provider Hong Kong Cybercity in 1996, and web services company Outblaze, which would be acquired by IBM.
Operating out of Hong Kong, Animoca operates in the digital entertainment, blockchain, and gaming realms. Their mission is to forward the medium of digital asset ownership, and to help make the open metaverse a reality.
Animoca Brands has become a true institution of the industry at large. Yat Siu has been recognized as a Global Leader of Tomorrow and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and he is highly-regarded for his experience, acumen and continued leadership of the company.
Animoca is best-known for both its in-house companies and its notable investments. They are behind the likes Mocaverse, The Sandbox and REVV Racing, and have invested in over 380 Web3 companies, including the likes of Axie Infinity, OpenSea, and Pudgy Penguins.
What has Animoca Brands accomplished so far?
Animoca Brands was established in 2014, with an initial focus on developing mobile games. Their early titles gathered a notable audience, with games such as Pretty Pet Salon and Cinderella Cafe.
Funding from the likes of Intel Capital and IDG-Accel saw them grow rapidly, and by 2017, Animoca began to integrate blockchain technology into their products. As one of the first major players in the wider industry, they acquired game developers Pixowl in 2018 to launch The Sandbox – one of the world’s first so-called metaverse titles.
By 2020, Animoca Brands had become a true giant of the industry. They started making their own investments into burgeoning Web3 firms, and began to offer seed funding to these emerging companies. Many of them would go on to create the core products that were an essential part of the first NFT boom in 2021, such as OpenSea.
Recently, Animoca Brands have further expanded their presence in the blockchain industry. They introduced their Mocaverse NFTs in March 2023, and followed that with Moca IDs and Realm Points (RP), helping to enhance cross-community engagement and kicking-off new trends in user engagement and community rewards.
May 2024 saw Animoca release the $MOCA token, adding a token to their ecosystem and giving the wider Web3 community a more straightforward way to get involved with Animoca Brands.
Today, Animoca Brands serves as a venture capital firm, an advisory company, and a hands-on assistant. They help to support, advise and further the cause of entrepreneurs and creatives that are building with or integrating blockchain technology into their products.
Animoca’s involvement continues to stretch across many of the most popular projects, tools and services in the industry today. This includes games such as The Sandbox and Axie Infinity, NFT collections such as Pudgy Penguins, and infrastructure tools such as NFT marketplace OpenSea.
On top of this, their involvement has had a profound impact on many of the projects that have done the industry a tremendous service in reaching mainstream audiences. The biggest example of this is their investment into Dapper Labs, the team behind sports-focused digital collectible platforms NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day.
What does the future hold for Animoca Brands?
The year ahead is set to be the biggest one for Animoca Brands to date.
In July 2024, Yat Siu stated that Animoca would seek a public listing in the second half of 2025, exposing the company to public markets for the first time since 2020. With both crypto and NFTs booming in late 2024, this could prove to be a timely move, allowing for easier access to Animoca Brands for traditional investors.
The $MOCA token continues to play a major role in the future of Animoca. Mocaverse continues to see heavy investment, with the team looking to make Mocaverse the go-to identity layer for the Web3 industry at large.
The Sandbox continues to expand, especially as the metaverse has seen renewed interest in recent months. Their external investments also continue to grow in number and prominence, no doubt helping sew the seeds for the go-to tools of the future.
Animoca Brands has two core goals. The first is to promote and help further the cause of digital asset rights. The second is to advocate and help to build the open metaverse. As we enter 2025, Animoca looks to be well on the path to achieving both.
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