What started as a mobile game development studio is today one of the biggest players in digital entertainment – and one of the powerhouses behind the blockchain industry as a whole. That company is Animoca Brands.
From technology and gaming to NFTs, collectibles, infrastructure and more, Animoca Brands have had their hands in plenty of significant developments in Web3 over the past decade. What is Animoca Brands, what have they helped to create, and what lays ahead in their future?
Master the topic, as we explain the past, present and future of Animoca Brands in 2024.
What is Animoca Brands?
Animoca Brands was founded in 2014 by entrepreneur and angel investor Yat Siu. Born and raised in Vienna, Austria, he held key positions at Atari Germany and Lexicor before founding free webpage and email provider Hong Kong Cybercity in 1996, and web services company Outblaze, which was acquired by IBM.
Based in Hong Kong, Animoca operates in the digital entertainment, blockchain, and gaming industries. Their mission is to make digital asset ownership a reality, and to contribute to an open metaverse.
Today, Animoca Brands has become a juggernaut in blockchain and Web3 gaming. 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 business acumen and leadership of the company.
Animoca is perhaps best-known for its in-house companies and notable investments. They own entities such as Mocaverse, The Sandbox and REVV Racing, and have invested in over 380 Web3 projects, including the likes of Axie Infinity, OpenSea, and Pudgy Penguins.
The history of Animoca Brands
Animoca Brands was established in 2014, and initially focused on developing mobile games. Many of their early titles gathering a notable audience, with games such as Pretty Pet Salon and Cinderella Cafe.
Funding from firms such as Intel Capital and IDG-Accel saw them expand rapidly, and by 2017, Animoca began incorporating blockchain into their products. As one of the first major players in the industry, they acquired game developers Pixowl in 2018 and launched The Sandbox – one of the first metaverse titles.
By the time 2020 rolled around, Animoca Brands had become a giant of the industry. They became a venture capital firm in their own right, and began offering seed funding to many emerging companies. Many of these companies would go on to create tools that were vital to the first NFT boom in 2021, such as OpenSea.
In recent years, Animoca Brands has further expanded its role in the blockchain ecosystem. They introduced their Mocaverse NFTs in March 2023, followed by Moca IDs and Realm Points (RP), enhancing cross-community engagement and kicking-off new trends in user rewards.
May 2024 saw the release of their long-awaited $MOCA token, adding tokenization to their ecosystem and giving the wider Web3 community an easier way to get involved in the world of Animoca Brands.
As of writing, Animoca Brands serves as a source of funding, an advisor, and a hands-on assistant. It supports entrepreneurs and creatives looking to build with or integrate Web3 technology into their products.
Their involvement stretches across many of the most popular projects, tools and services. 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 fingerprints are on many of the projects that have hit mainstream audiences. The biggest example of this is their investment into Dapper Labs, the team behind sports collectible platforms NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day.
What’s next for Animoca Brands?
2025 is set to be Animoca Brands‘ biggest year so far.
In July 2024, Yat Siu stated that the company would seek a public listing in the second half of 2025. This move would expose 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 shrewd move. It would allow easier accessibility to Animoca for traditional investors.
The $MOCA token is set to play a big role in the future of Animoca. The Mocaverse continues to see heavy investment. The team is looking to make Mocaverse the go-to identity layer for the Web3 industry.
Their gaming projects, such as The Sandbox, continue to grow, especially as the metaverse has seen revitalized interest in recent months. Their external investments also continue to expand, no doubt helping the tools of the future get their start.
Animoca Brands has two key goals. The first is to further digital asset rights. The second is to make the open metaverse a reality. In 2025, the company looks set to take concrete steps towards achieving both.
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