Animoca Brands and Galaxy Interactive close new funding rounds

Animoca's blockchain & digital entertainment spin-off Animoca Brands and Galaxy Digital's Interactive VC are the latest names to net capital through fundraising.

NFT game developer Animoca Brands has raised $65 million in its most recent funding round, at a $2.2 billion pre-money valuation. The funding announced yesterday reflects the growth that NFT gaming and virtual asset-focused firms have seen in recent months. The round took several investors on board including, Ubisoft Entertainment, Liberty City Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, Tess Ventures, Sequoia China, MSA Capital, Kingsway Capital, Smile Group, and Adit Ventures.

The latest score means the Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming company has now raised a total of $203.88 million this year. Earlier in June, the company raised $138.88 million, which –an investment that was set to bring digital rights to online users.

Animoca provides digital property rights to video game and metaverse consumers using blockchain tech and NFTs. It is through these offerings that users gain play-to-earn capabilities, interoperability of owned assets, interaction with GameFi opportunities, and assured ownership rights of their digital assets.

Using funds acquired in the latest funding, the company plans to invest in strategic acquisitions, development of products, and intellectual property licensing endeavours. Further, Animoca Brands aims to expand digital ownership to several new gamers and users on the internet. According to the company chair and co-founder Yat Siu, these fall in line with the company's vision to use NFTs in redefining equity and rights for properties online.

"In 2018, we laid out a strategy based on our assessment that in the future digital property rights would revolutionize industries by expanding financial inclusion and that this significant change would start with NFT adoption in games," he said. "That future is already here. With the backing of our new strategic investors, Animoca Brands will continue to advance blockchain in gaming – and beyond – to introduce billions of gamers and Internet users to true digital ownership,"

Also, this week, Galaxy Interactive raised $325 million with more than 70 limited partnership entities participating. Galaxy Interactive is an affiliate company of Michael Novogratz's Galaxy Digital and is the second fund in the expanding suite of multi-LP offerings by Galaxy Digital. The latter had $2.2 billion worth of assets under management as of the end of September.

Galaxy Interactive noted that $150 million of the raised funds has already been invested or reserved for investment into new companies in the interactive sector (intersection of finance, tech, and content). The fund's founding partner Sam Englebardt further explained that part of the raised funds would be directed to blockchain gaming and AI. Englebardt observed that with young people moving from the physical to the digital world, the 'interactive sector' is ripe for growth.

"There has never been a better time to focus on the intersection of content, finance, and tech, and we're fully dedicated to leading the charge in growing this sector," he noted.