Animoca denies reports of $200M cut to Metaverse fund and valuation drop to $2B

Venture superior steadfast and Web3 crippled developer Animoca Brands has refuted claims that it scaled backmost its Metaverse money people by $200 million, oregon 20% to $800 cardinal amid volatility successful the crypto marketplace and instability successful the banking sector.

The steadfast besides down-played suggestions that its valuation has plummeted from $6 cardinal arsenic of July 2022 to astir $2 cardinal successful March 2023.

Stemming from a March 24 Reuters study that cited anonymous “people acquainted with the matter,” it was claimed that Animoca initially halved its $2 cardinal Metaverse money people successful January, and past precocious followed that up by cutting it down another 20% to $800 million.

The money successful question was announced successful November, with the extremity of allocating superior to mid to late-stage startups with a Metaverse focus. At the time, Animoca co-founder and president Yat Siu outlined that the money people was betwixt $1 cardinal to $2 billion, depending connected however overmuch superior was raised.

In a nationalist connection shared with Cointelegraph, Animoca stated that “the assertion that the Animoca Capital money people was ‘cut’ from $2 cardinal to $1 cardinal is not correct, due to the fact that $1 cardinal has ever been wrong the scope declared.”

The steadfast did admit that the banking collapses successful the U.S. person of people had an impact, but stressed that the last magnitude raised for the money has yet to beryllium determined.

“There's nary uncertainty that the FTX and banking crises person had a superior interaction connected disposable task capital, but fundraising for the Animoca Capital money is successful progress. When the rise is concluded we volition pass the marketplace with the due details, including the last size of this fund,” the steadfast stated.

Commenting connected the leaked information, Siu told Cointelegraph that fixed the accusation came from unnamed sources, it “makes it hard to ascertain precisely who oregon what the sources and docket are, which is unfortunate.”

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) March 22, 2023

Concerning the company’s valuation, Animoca asserted that the figures reported by Reuters and the “two other” unnamed radical cited were inaccurate.

Animoca’s shares (AB1) were initially listed connected the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) successful the firm’s aboriginal days. However, AB1 was delisted backmost successful March 2020 owed the ASX’s assertions that Animoca had breached its listing rules by being progressive successful crypto-related activities, among different things.

Since then, its shares person traded connected unlisted stock-focused exchanges specified arsenic the Sydney-based PrimaryMarkets.

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The information from this level was utilized to cipher a full marketplace headdress of AB1 astatine astir astir $2 billion. However, Animoca argues that these figures don’t overgarment the afloat representation of the company’s full valuation.

AB1 banal price: PrimaryMarkets

“The assertion [...] that Animoca Brands ‘now trades its shares connected PrimaryMarkets’ is not technically correct. We terminated our statement with PrimaryMarkets successful the 2nd fractional of 2020, but PrimaryMarkets chose to proceed to commercialized Animoca Brands shares connected its platform,” the steadfast stated, adding that:

“We bash not see the bladed trading enactment connected PrimaryMarkets to accurately bespeak the company's value. Trading measurement is acold excessively debased to supply the terms accuracy you would find connected an existent superior market.”