A peek into web3 power player Animoca Brands
If you haven’t heard of Animoca Brands over the last year or so, you haven’t been paying close attention. With a long and growing list of digital entertainment, blockchain and gaming properties, the eight-year-old, 600-person Hong Kong-based outfit has quietly become one of the most active participants in a world that more and more stakeholders believe is the next iteration of the web.
Just today, an LA outfit called Fan Controlled Football League — a sports league where fans vote on real-time decisions for their team — announced $40 million in Series A funding co-led by Animoca. And the outfit, which got its start by developing games for smartphones and tablets, has invested in more than 150 other outfits since bumping into the blockchain around 2017.
It was as serendipitous as it sounds. For Animoca founder Yat Siu, it also appears to have been love at first sight. At the time, Animoca was on its way to acquiring a company called Fuel Powered, which shared an office with venture studio Axiom Zen, and Siu was intrigued with a blockchain game that Axiom was working on called “CryptoKitties.” He learned of it from Fuel Powered’s co-founder, Mikhael Naayem, who was advising Axiom’s founder, Roham Gharegozlou.
Soon after, in early 2018, Animoca struck a deal: a one-year renewable exclusive licensing and distribution agreement with Axiom Zen to publish “CryptoKitties.” It took off in such a big way that Naayem and Gharegozlou teamed up to form Dapper Labs (now known even better for its “NBA Top Shot” marketplace), and Animoca became of its earliest backers.
NBA Top Shot creator Dapper Labs raises another $250 million
Animoca has been on an impressive tear since. Operating as both a publisher and, increasingly, a buyer of
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