Animoca Brands is a Hong Kong-based game software company and venture capital firm co-founded in 2014 by Yat Siu and David Kim. The company initially focused on developing mobile games, then shifted to blockchain gaming and NFTs in 2018. Today, Animoca Brands stands as one of the most active blockchain investors globally, with over 600 portfolio companies and digital assets across 20+ verticals . The venture investment arm operates with $100M+ AUM , though this figure represents only a portion of the firm's total assets under management.
The firm operates both as a game developer and as an aggressive venture investor in Web3 infrastructure, gaming, NFTs, and metaverse projects. Animoca Brands hit $5.9 billion valuation in July 2022, and by August 2022, Temasek with GGV Capital led a $110 million funding round at a $6 billion valuation . However, the company's valuation fell to around $1.5 billion on secondary markets by mid-2024 amid broader crypto market weakness. In November 2025, Animoca announced plans to go public on the Nasdaq stock exchange through a reverse merger with Currenc Group Inc., with the transaction expected to close in 2026 .
Notable Investments
Animoca Brands has built one of the largest blockchain portfolios in the industry. Holdings and investments include Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs, Yuga Labs, Colossal Biosciences, MoviePass and CryptoKitties. Additional high-profile investments include Polygon, Celestia, ImmutableX, Aptos, ApeCoin, Consensys, LayerZero, and Sandbox . The firm also backs Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, and Star Atlas .
The company developed and incubated The Sandbox and Axie Infinity , two of the most successful blockchain games to date. In January 2026, Animoca Brands acquired the digital collectibles company SOMO. Animoca Brands has made 461 investments, with their latest investment in Bullshot as part of their Series A on February 10, 2026.
Team
Yat Siu is co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands. Yat began his career at Atari Germany before founding Hong Kong Cybercity/Freenation, Asia's first free web page and email provider. In 1998, he created Outblaze, an award-winning pioneer of multilingual white-label web services. After selling a business unit to IBM, he transformed Outblaze into an incubator for digital entertainment projects, one of which became Animoca Brands. Yat has been recognized as a World Economic Forum Global Leader of Tomorrow, DHL/SCMP Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and one of Cointelegraph's Top 100 Notable People in Blockchain .
The executive team also includes Evan Auyang as Group President and Robby Yung, Animoca Brands' CEO of Investments and partner at Animoca Capital, who served as the first CEO of Animoca Brands after taking the group public in 2015. Prior to joining Animoca Brands, Mr. Auyang was the Managing Director and Head of GLG International, and before that was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company.
Recent Activity
In February 2026, Animoca Brands received a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licence from the Dubai Emirate's regulatory authority for the digital asset industry, allowing the company to start operating in Dubai and offer broker-dealer services as well as digital asset management and investment services. In December 2025, Animoca Brands announced a strategic partnership with GROW Investment Group to offer both crypto and traditional finance investment products to family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
In May 2025, Animoca opened a New York office , signaling expansion into U.S. markets. The company is expanding its institutional business through a joint venture with Standard Chartered and HKT to develop a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, as well as a collaboration with Provenance Blockchain Labs on a real-world asset marketplace. The company reported $314 million in revenue for 2024, up 12% from the previous year .
Geographic Focus
Animoca Brands maintains its headquarters in Hong Kong and has expanded globally with offices in the United States, South Korea, Finland, and Argentina . The firm has investments across over 26 countries , with particular strength in Asia-Pacific markets.
Notable Wins and Challenges
Animoca's early bets on Axie Infinity, OpenSea, and The Sandbox proved exceptionally profitable during the 2021-2022 NFT boom. The company holds ~$16B worth of tokens on its balance sheet in the form of tokens from games it owns and tokens of companies where it has invested. However, the firm has faced setbacks. In March 2022, Animoca Brands announced it would shut down the F1 Delta Time game. The game had previously been lucrative, holding the record for the most expensive NFT of 2019 and with some transactions exceeding $300,000. Sales within the game had flat-lined for the two years preceding the game's closure.
On June 21, 2022, Animoca Brands Corporation Limited was convicted on charges of failing to lodge annual and half-yearly financial reports with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. On March 9, 2020, Animoca Brands delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange , largely due to regulatory concerns over its crypto activities.
Animoca Brands represents a bold bet on digital property rights and the metaverse. The firm's portfolio concentration in altcoins exposes it to significant volatility, and its valuation has fluctuated dramatically with broader crypto sentiment. Yet the company maintains profitability and continues to expand geographically and institutionally. The planned Nasdaq listing will test whether traditional capital markets embrace this pioneering but speculative business model. With 600+ portfolio companies spanning gaming, DeFi, infrastructure, and AI, Animoca has positioned itself as a central node in the Web3 eco
