Animoca Brands raises $10M for open metaverse platform Mocaverse

Animoca Brands has raised an additional $10 millino for Mocaverse, a platform for building an open metaverse.

Participating investors include OKX Ventures, CMCC Global, Hong Shan (formerly Sequoia China), with attached MOCA Coin.

Animoca had previously raised $31.88 million last year for the Mocaverse to build out the interoperable infrastructure tech stack for consumer crypto adoption with large user base ecosystems. The investment comes with a free-attaching warrant for the MOCA Coin utility token at an implied fully diluted value (FDV) of $1 billion, in a structure that mirrors the two tranches announced previously.

Yat Siu, executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said in a statement, “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 honored 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.”

This funding tranche included participation from OKX Ventures, CMCC Global, HongShan (formerly Sequoia China), Republic Crypto, Decima Fund, Kingsway Capital and others, with the purpose to fast-track and scale Mocaverse’s operations in the context of the project’s considerable growth since its initial fundraising.

Kenneth Shek, project lead for Mocaverse, said in a statement, “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.”

The company will use the new funding to advance its goal to accelerate Web3 mass adoption and interoperability, specifically by continuing to scale and build Mocaverse, the interoperable infrastructure layer of account, identity, and reputation systems for consumer crypto adoption.

This includes Realm SDK, the interoperable software development kit (SDK) that allows partners to create their own reputation-based ecosystems with corresponding app experiences that are interoperable with all the ecosystems building on top of the Moca Network.

Earlier this year, Mocaverse launched Moca ID, the pilot on-chain identity system of Realm SDK.

Siu discussed the opportunities unlocked by the new decentralized identifier (DID) in an essay published in January, arguing that “digital lives will become our platforms, and we will rightfully own those platforms and their connected (economic) benefits through Web3.”

Since launch, over 1.79 million Moca IDs have been registered and more than 160 Web3 activations have been launched with partners that include Pixels, Blocklords, Trust Wallet, OKX Wallet, and various others.

Mocaverse will continue to expand the Moca Network and drive consumer crypto adoption by integrating large user base ecosystems via partnerships with major companies and communities. Mocaverse recently welcomed Anime Foundation, MyAnimeList, and One Football as Realm partners to onboard a combined potential 218+ million monthly active users to the Moca Network through the new identity systems Anime ID and Football ID.

In addition, Mocaverse entered a strategic partnership with TON Foundation to onboard and cross-pollinate up to more than 900 million active users on Telegram Messenger through key cultural verticals such as social casual gaming, sports, IP experiences, and more.

In a statement, Jeff Ren, partner of OKX Ventures, said, “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, said in a statement, “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 centered 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, general partner of Decima Fund, said in a statement, “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.”

Details of raise

Animoca Brands is issuing Simple Agreements for Future Equity (SAFEs) with various sophisticated and professional investors to raise a total of $10 million (approximately Australian $15.4 million) at the price of Australian $4.50 per share. The SAFEs will be automatically converted to ordinary shares after six months.

The number of new shares to be issued will be determined by the AUD:USD exchange rate at the time of settlement. The company’s number of current outstanding fully paid ordinary shares is 1,923,933,217. As part of the raise, the company has granted to participating investors a free-attaching utility token warrant on a 1:1 dollar basis with a 30-month vesting schedule, priced at 11.3 cents per token based on a fully diluted value (FDV) for MOCA Coin of $1 billion.