Animoca’s thrilling crypto success began with a delisting

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Delisting from public markets generally does not bode well for a company. A firm usually delists because it’s bankrupt, nearly bankrupt, or can’t meet the exchange’s minimum financial requirements, but that wasn’t the case for Animoca Brands.

The Hong Kong-based firm had begun dipping its toes in the crypto space, and, in 2019, led a funding round for Axie Infinity developer, Sky Mavis. Animoca topped that up with an investment for the intellectual property rights to build resources for sports-based blockchain games and the development of non-fungible tokens.

But the deeper Animoca went into the crypto world, the louder the alarm bells rang at the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). In March 2020, ASX officially delisted Animoca, whose life as a public firm had been largely disappointing, with its share price having fallen 95% from its peak.

However, away from the public eye, Animoca got the breathing room it needed to supercharge its blockchain-fueled ambitions. “It ended up being a blessing in disguise,” Yat Siu, the firm’s co-founder and executive chairman, tells Tech in Asia.

In today’s premium story, my colleague, Deepti, charts Animoca’s ascent from being a little-known gaming company to one of the most prolific blockchain investment firms in the world. She also draws parallels between Animoca’s investment strategy and those of Tencent and SoftBank.

Today we look at:

• The meteoric rise of the US$5 billion Animoca empire
• Indonesia’s probe of state-owned Telkomsel’s investment into GoTo
• Other newsy highlights such as Ajaib’s Bored Ape NFT mascot and Sequoia’s US$850 million SEA fund

Also, if you’re an entrepreneur looking for funding, fill out this form to get your company featured on our list of fundraising startups.

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In all walks of blockchain life

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Since it bid adieu to the public markets, Animoca has rapidly entered all corners of the Web3 world. It made an average of one investment every six days in 2021 and, as of April, had built a metaverse-centric investment portfolio worth about US$1.5 billion that comprised over 340 projects and firms involved with NFTs.

The company even plans on eventually getting back into the public space, but on a different exchange, with Hong Kong, the US, and Europe being potential destinations.

A messy affair

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