Animoca Brands raises USD $10 million for Mocaverse expansion

Animoca Brands has secured an additional USD $10 million in funding for Mocaverse, aimed at advancing its Web3 mass adoption and interoperability efforts.

This latest funding tranche comes after prior investments totalling USD $31.88 million announced last year. The new investment mirrors previous structures by including a free-attaching warrant for the MOCA Coin utility token, indicating an implied fully diluted value of USD $1 billion. Participants in this tranche include OKX Ventures, CMCC Global, HongShan, Republic Crypto, Decima Fund, Kingsway Capital, among others, with the goal of scaling Mocaverse's operations further.

The new funds are intended to support the expansion of Mocaverse, which is focused on developing the interoperable infrastructure layer for consumer crypto, including Account, Identity, and Reputation systems. A critical component of Mocaverse's strategy is the Realm SDK, a software development kit that enables partners to create interoperable app ecosystems on the Moca Network.

This year, Mocaverse launched the Moca ID, an on-chain identity system part of Realm SDK. Since its launch, over 1.79 million Moca IDs have been registered, and more than 160 Web3 activations have been initiated alongside partners such as Pixels, BLOCKLORDS, Trust Wallet, and OKX Wallet.

Mocaverse is also working on expanding its network by forming partnerships with major companies and communities. Notably, it recently included Anime Foundation, MyAnimeList, and One Football as Realm partners, collectively potentially bringing over 218 million monthly active users to the Moca Network through new identity systems like Anime ID and Football ID.

A strategic partnership with TON Foundation was also announced to integrate up to 900 million users from Telegram Messenger through various cultural and entertainment verticals.

Jeff Ren from OKX Ventures commented, "We are delighted to invest in Animoca Brands and Mocaverse, a project that perfectly represents the vibrant ecosystem of Animoca Brands. By creating an interoperable infrastructure layer for consumer apps, Mocaverse integrates various cultural economies and maximizes network effects. At the same time, we are also thrilled to have established a strategic partnership with OKX Wallet, Mocaverse, and X Layer to jointly explore new solutions in the Web3 space. This investment signals our enthusiasm and determination to promote the development of the Web3 world."

Martin Baumann, managing partner at CMCC Global, stated, "Animoca Brands is the innovation leader in Asia when it comes to blockchain empowered consumer applications. Yat Siu and his team have an unmatched track record of building globally recognized leading blockchain and metaverse applications such as games, platforms, NFT-related apps, and more. At CMCC Global, we have identified and invested at seed stage in many of the leading blockchain infrastructure protocols such as Solana, Cosmos, Ethereum and others. We foresee the next big wave in the blockchain industry to be centred around consumer and mass market adoption, and Animoca Brands' Mocaverse is poised to join those industry-defining players. That is why Mocaverse has become CMCC Global's largest investment to date."

Ken Kitahara of Decima Fund expressed, "We are proud to back Yat, Animoca Brands, and the Mocaverse team on their journey to bring clarity to onchain social graphs and activity, and look forward to exploring unique Japanese opportunities for Mocaverse."

Yat Siu, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands, remarked, "With Mocaverse and its Realm Network we are bringing the Web3 ethos of interoperability to life, driving decentralization and shared network effects across the broader Web3 ecosystem. The raise announced today features participation from esteemed and strategically important investors, and we are honoured by this level of support as we work to advance digital property rights, interoperability, and the evolution of the Internet into more equitable decentralized systems."

Kenneth Shek, Project Lead for Mocaverse, added, "Our mission is to get crypto in the hands of hundreds of millions of users, which requires onboarding the fan bases that appeal to individuals on a deeply personal level. We are building Realm Network to decentralize such onboarding efforts for each pioneer in the consumer crypto space across multiple verticals, with the ultimate goal of driving network effect among all of them."

As part of this funding effort, Animoca Brands is issuing Simple Agreements for Future Equity (SAFEs) to raise a total of USD $10 million, with conversion to ordinary shares planned after six months. These agreements are priced at AUD $4.50 per share, with the conversion dependent on the AUD:USD exchange rate at settlement.