Leading metaverse investor Animoca Brands has continued its impressive surge, as its Japanese subsidiary ‘Animoca Brands KK (Japan)’ raised $45 million, with a pre-money valuation of $500 million.
Amid a bearish market, Animoca Brands has signalled its bullish intent to facilitate the establishment of the open metaverse.
Indeed, the $45 million investment, made in equal sums, came from Animoca Brands Corporation Limited, and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFG (MUFG Bank) – one of Japan’s oldest and largest banks.
Only last month, Animoca Brands received a valuation of $5.5 billion, as they raised $75 million in an investment round including Liberty City Ventures and Kingsway.
Animoca Brands KK (Japan)
Animoca Brands Japan is a strategic subsidiary of Animoca Brands Corporation Limited, focused on cooperative partnerships in Japan for NFT related business opportunities.
Founded in 2021, the company draws major Japanese IP holders into the Web3 ecosystem, while contributing to the greater vision of its parent company.
According to Animoca Brands, its subsidiary will: “use the new capital to continue to secure licenses for popular intellectual properties, develop internal capabilities, and promote adoption of Web3 for multiple partners, increasing the value and utility of their branded content while fostering the development of a safe and secure NFT ecosystem in Japan.”
Web3 growing in Japan
The NFT market is building a head of steam in Japan. Earlier in March, the partnership between the 360-year-old MUFG Bank, and Animoca Brands, was hinted as a possibility.
Indeed, the bank had commented: “In order to revitalize the NFT market in Japan, it is necessary to develop an NFT environment where anyone can easily trade with peace of mind, just like daily purchasing activities. Further development of the NFT market is expected by realizing customer protection against fraud, impersonation, and loss of content value due to speculative transactions in the NFT environment.”
Now, the partnership has been realised and further cements the expanding infrastructure of Web3 in Japan.
Interestingly, this news arrives during uncertain times for cryptocurrencies worldwide.
Japan, in particular, has introduced a wave of new regulations including a 30% corporate tax on profit for crypto holdings, including unrealised gains.
In June, the upper house of Japan’s parliament passed a landmark bill to regulate stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies, whose value is pegged to that of the yen, dollar or other currencies.
Despite this fact, NFT popularity soars in Japan and the technology would seem to be a great fit for Japan’s rich heritage of games, animation and gorgeous visual art.
That’s why Japanese financial services group SBI Group has already established a dedicated subsidiary named SBINFTs.
Moreover, in April, Japan’s LINE launched its NFT marketplace LINENFT, offering around 40,000 NFTs to its 90 million users.
Not to mention, Japan’s gaming giants Square Enix Group, boasting intellectual property like Final Fantasy, recently publicly committed to Web3 and NFT technology and already holds property in The Sandbox.
The Web3 juggernaut marches on
Animoca Brands has an extensive portfolio of more than 340 investments, which includes The Sandbox, NFT marketplace OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Colossal and Axie Infinity.
With subsidiary offices all around the globe in Europe, America, Australia and Asia, this Web3 juggernaut is showing no signs of slowing down.
Recently, the company launched a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) called the Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3 (OMA3), which aims to unite Web3 projects to develop metaverse standards.
For more information about Animoca Brands’ developments, you can visit the company’s website or Twitter for the latest news.
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