What started as a humble mobile game development company has transformed into a giant in digital entertainment and a true giant in the blockchain industry.
that company is Animoka brand.
From technology and games to NFTs, collectibles, infrastructure and more, Animoca Brands has played a major role in many of the major developments in blockchain over the past decade. What is Animoca Brands? Who are they related to?
Here is our complete 2024 Animoca brand guide.
What is the Animoca brand?
Animoca Brands was founded in 2014 by visionary entrepreneur and angel investor Yat Siu. He was born and raised in Vienna, Austria. He held senior positions at Atari Germany and Lexicor, and then founded Hong Kong Cybercity, a free web and email provider, in 1996, and founded the network services company Outblaze (later acquired by IBM). Thus emerging.
Animoca is headquartered in Hong Kong and focuses on digital entertainment, blockchain and games. Its mission is to advance digital asset ownership and contribute to the development of the open Metaverse.
Under the leadership of Yat Siu, Animoca Brands has grown into a major player in the blockchain and Web3 gaming space. Xiao Yi was named “Tomorrow’s Global Leader” and “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, and his business acumen is highly respected.
Animoca Brands is known for its range of in-house products and significant investments. They are behind companies such as Mocaverse, The Sandbox and REVV Racing, and have invested in over 380 Web3 projects, including Axie Infinity, OpenSea and Pudgy Penguins.
History of the Animoca brand
Animoca Brands was founded in 2014 and initially focused on mobile game development. Many of their early works were notable successes, such as “The Pretty Pet Salon” and “Cinderella’s Café.”
Early funding from prominent venture capital firms such as Intel Capital and IDG-Accel allowed them to expand rapidly, and by 2017, Animoca decided to start integrating blockchain technology into their products. One of the first major institutional players in the space, they acquired game developer Pixowl in 2018 and launched The Sandbox – heralded as one of the first Metaverse games.
Fast forward to 2020, and Animoca Brands has grown into an industry giant. They are a venture capital firm in their own right, providing seed funding and partnerships to many emerging teams that will go on to create tools that will be critical to the first NFT boom in 2021, such as OpenSea.
Building on this success, Animoca was named a high-growth company in Asia Pacific by the Financial Times and won the prestigious Deloitte Technology Fast Award.
In recent years, the company has further expanded its role in the blockchain ecosystem. They launched Mocaverse NFT in March 2023, followed by the Moca ID and Realm Points (RP) systems, enhancing cross-community engagement and creating a new trend in user rewards. They launched the long-awaited $MOCA token in May 2024, tokenizing their ecosystem and providing an easier way for the wider community to participate in their development.
Today, Animoca Brands provides funding sources, consultants, and hands-on assistants to those looking to build with or integrate blockchain technology into their products.
They are primarily involved in many of the most popular projects, tools, and services. This includes games like The Sandbox and Axie Infinity, NFT collectibles like Pudgy Penguins and its own Mocaverse, and infrastructure tools like NFT marketplace OpenSea.
Their footprints can also be found in many projects that have achieved mainstream success. The most notable example is their support for Dapper Labs, the studio behind sports collection platform NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day.
What’s next for the Animoca brand?
2025 will be Animoca Brands’ most important year yet.
In July 2024, Animoca Brands Chairman Xiao Yi said that the company would seek to be publicly listed in the second half of 2025, which would be the first time the company has opened to the public market since 2020. This may prove to be a suitable way for ordinary people and traditional investors to enter the Animoca ecosystem.
$MOCA will play an important role in the future of the company and its cross-community engagement efforts. Mocaverse continues to receive significant funding, and Animoca hopes to make Mocaverse the identity, account, and reputation system of choice for the entire Web3 industry.
As projects like The Sandbox continue to grow – especially with the resurgence of interest in Metaverse projects in recent months – and their external portfolios continue to grow, they will undoubtedly shape the blockchain industry for years to come.
Animoca has two core goals: to further deepen the concept of digital asset rights and make an open virtual universe a reality. By 2025, Animoca may achieve both goals.
