Get ready for some breaking metaverse news: The chairman of Animoca Brands had estimated that the company’s metaverse capital round may reach up to $2 billion.
Animoca Brands will try to raise $1 billion for its metaverse investing fund at the beginning of this year, a reduction from its previous goal of $2 billion.
“We had initially looked at a target of $1 billion, whether it goes upsized or downsized we don’t know yet,” Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu said in a Twitter. “Given the market circumstances, it could be less.”
Siu earlier suggested to Nikkei that Animoca Capital could raise between $1 billion and $2 billion. However, his remarks were made before to the demise of FTX and before Animoca had raised funds for the new fund, so the objective now appears to be closer to the lower end.
Siu stated that the actual fundraising process will occur in the first quarter of this year.
Despite the fact that the market is not “super optimistic” as a result of the FTX collapse, he noted that there are still numerous finance sources for the new company.
“There continues to be multiple pools of capital that has interest in this space,” Siu said. Despite the industry’s gloom, venture capital firms continue to invest in the cryptocurrency market.
Siu stated that Animoca had recently completed a capital round for one of its portfolio firms, but declined to specify which. He stated that the funding came from “top-name, top-tiered VCs.” “My point is that there is capital in the space,” he said.
Animoca mulling Hong Kong IPO
Throughout the meeting, Siu was optimistic about Asia’s chances as a crypto leader, even saying that his company now favored Hong Kong over the United States for an IPO.
“Places like Asia, particularly Hong Kong, are starting to look more attractive with their crypto-assets policies, with their desire to be a leader in the space,” he said. “And the fact that we happen to be in Hong Kong as well happens to be a great benefit.”
The company was formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2015, but was delisted in 2020 due to its inability to comply with the exchange’s listing requirements.
Since then, Animoca Brands has raised millions of dollars from investors like UbiSoft, Sequoia Capital, and SoftBank. In an effort to make the company “pre-IPO ready,” Temasek and GGV Capital conducted a $6 billion valuation round in September 2022.
Siu stated on Thursday that the company’s IPO was a matter of “when,” not “if,” and that its desired listing location could change. “We’re certainly liking Hong Kong a lot more as of late.”
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