Hong Kong-based crypto giant Animoca Brands is now willing to raise $1 billion in funds for its new Web3 and Metaverse fund. Last year in November 2022, Animoca Brands announced that they are willing to launch a $2 billion fund for investments in key Metaverse projects.
However, citing the major crypto market meltdown and uncertain macro conditions, they are willing to scale back its ambitious plan by a staggering 50%. However, a $1 billion fundraise would still not be a bad option considering the magnitude of the market meltdown.
Animoca Capital said that they are currently in talks with potential investors and will use the money to support several Metaverse and blockchain startups. Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu appraised of this development in a Twitter space chat with Bloomberg on Thursday, January 5.
The recent collapse of crypto exchange FTX has shed dark clouds on the crypto space leading to major bakruptcies and shutdowns. Following this, investors have shown a bit of hesitancy to participate in the crypto space fearing the regulatory wrath.
Animoca Brands Impacted by FTX Collapse
Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu said that the company’s portfolio firms have been severely impacted with FTX collapse. This includes NFT spaceship seller Star Atlas which had a majority of its treasury on FTX.
Siu added that amid the shakey market they are raising slightly lower than the targeted amount. He added:
“Q1 is the goal and then let’s see what happens. It is fair to say it’s a challenging market. But we have quite a bit of interest.”
However, Siu is optimistic that the interest for VC firms in crypto is still intact. He pointed out how a number of subsidiaries of Animoca Brands have raised funds even through the FTX cycle, but didn’t name them.
Animoca Brands has stakes in over 380 firms and is not planning anyfunraise for itself this year, except one From Temasek this September. Siu added that because of the slup in the digital asset prices, Animoca’s revenues took a hit.
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