Animoca Brands, the Hong Kong-based crypto games and Web 3.0 investment company, is raising its stakes in Japan, with its local subsidiary raising $45 million in new financing at a pre-money valuation of about $500 million, the firm announced on Friday.
Animoca Brands Japan, which focuses on local partnerships for non-fungible token (NFT)-related business opportunities, secured half of the $45 million from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan’s largest lender with a history of over 360 years. The parent firm, Animoca Brands, contributed to the other half of capital, according to a statement.
Animoca Brands Japan, whose parent has a growing portfolio of over 340 investments worldwide, was founded in 2021 with a goal to foster the adoption of Web 3.0 in Japan by working with the country’s numerous intellectual property (IP) and content holders of successful anime, comics, video games and movies.
Although Japan’s digital asset industry currently faces a whopping 30% corporate tax on profit from cryptocurrency holdings, including unrealised gains, it is clear that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government is seeking ways to develop the country’s Web 3.0 environment — the next-generation Internet where data, apps and websites are decentralised and distributed among various entities in a more inclusive and equal fashion.
The Japanese government in June gave the green light to a new policy that aims to promote Web 3.0, including the use of cryptocurrencies, NFTs and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) as it attempts to boost the national economy.
With its parent’s Web 3.0 network and expertise, Animoca Brands Japan plans to use the fresh capital to “secure licences for popular IPs, develop internal capabilities and promote adoption of Web 3.0 to multiple partners, increasing the value and utility of their branded content while fostering the development of a safe and secure NFT ecosystem in Japan”, said the firm.
Its collaboration with Tokyo-headquartered MUFG represents the latest entry by a Japanese traditional bank into the rising digital asset field. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, the second of the country’s three largest banks, announced in July its plans for creating a Token Business Lab to provide NFT and decentralised technology services, with technical support from blockchain startup HashPort.
The new funding is built on Animoca Brands’ fast-growing global businesses spanning digital entertainment, blockchain, Web 3.0 and gamification. In its latest fundraising success, the parent in July pocketed $75.32 million to reach a valuation of approximately $5.5 billion — a leap from about $5 billion in just six months.
It holds stakes in some of the world’s best-known crypto upstarts, such as the world’s biggest NFT marketplace OpenSea; indie game developer Blowfish Studios; and The Sandbox, a gaming platform that allows users to build a virtual world using NFTs.