Animoca Brands refutes claims of scaling back metaverse fund target and plummeting valuation

Animoca Brands, a venture capital firm and Web3 game developer, has refuted recent claims that it has scaled back its metaverse fund target by $200 million, or 20%, amid volatility in the crypto market and instability in the banking sector. The firm also downplayed suggestions that its valuation has plummeted from $6 billion as of July 2022 to roughly $2 billion in March 2023.

The claims were reported by Reuters on March 24, citing anonymous "people familiar with the matter," who alleged that Animoca initially halved its $2 billion metaverse fund target in January and recently cut it another 20% to $800 million. The fund was announced in November 2022 to allocate capital to mid-to-late-stage startups with a metaverse focus, and Animoca co-founder and chairman Yat Siu outlined at the time that the fund target was between $1 billion and $2 billion, depending on how much capital was raised.

While Animoca acknowledged that the banking collapses in the United States have had an impact on available venture capital, the firm stressed that the final amount raised for the fund has yet to be determined. "When the raise is concluded, we will inform the market with the appropriate details, including the final size of this fund," the firm stated.

Regarding the company's valuation, Animoca asserted that the figures reported by Reuters and "two other" unnamed sources were inaccurate. The firm argues that its total market cap is not fully represented by the data from PrimaryMarkets, where its shares have traded since being delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange in March 2020.

Animoca terminated its arrangement with PrimaryMarkets in the second half of 2020, but the platform continued to trade its shares. The firm stated that "trading volume is far too low to provide the price accuracy you would find on an actual primary market."

While the claims made in the Reuters report remain unverified, they highlight the impact of recent events on the crypto market and fundraising efforts. Animoca's stance suggests that the firm is still confident in its ability to raise capital for its metaverse fund and that its valuation is higher than what has been reported. However, it remains to be seen how successful the fundraising efforts will be and whether Animoca will meet its original target for the fund.