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Exclusive | Animoca Brands expands Web3 investment to the Middle East after John Lee’s visit seeking stronger business ties
- The blockchain gaming giant plans to put tens of millions of dollars into the region, starting with a partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Manga Productions
- Animoca co-founder Yat Siu said the visit from Hong Kong’s chief executive gives the company ‘more official channels we can leverage’
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Hong Kong-based blockchain video gaming unicorn Animoca Brands is planning a major push into the Middle East after the Hong Kong government recently sought closer ties to the region, as the company continues to make big bets on Web3 start-ups amid cooling enthusiasm in the industry.
The firm, whose investors include Sequoia China and Singapore’s state fund Temasek Holdings, is looking to put “significant investment” into the Middle East valued “in the tens of millions of dollars”, co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu told the South China Morning Post in an interview on Tuesday.
The Middle East’s emerging markets offer Animoca great opportunities given the region’s crypto-friendly regulations, strong gaming culture, and young population, Siu said.
Among its planned projects for the region is a partnership with Manga Productions, a subsidiary of the Mohammed bin Salman “MiSK” Foundation, an organisation established by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince that produces animations, comics and games. The two companies will co-create a Web3 project leveraging the studio’s content, Animoca announced on Thursday.
Hong Kong sought to boost business ties in the Middle East last month when the city’s chief executive John Lee Ka-chiu visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The trip came about three months after Hong Kong announced plans to turn the city into a virtual asset hub with an overhauled regulatory regime that would allow for retail participation and more legal clarity on cryptocurrencies. Dubai, the UAE’s most populous city, has also positioned itself as a crypto-friendly territory.
Siu said Lee’s trip “legitimises and validates the relationships between the parties”, resulting in “more official channels we can leverage”.
Amid surging interest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse in 2021, Animoca emerged as a leading Web3 company owing largely to its blockchain gaming platform The Sandbox. The virtual world helped kick off intense investment interest in digital plots of land sold as NFTs, before interest cooled last year amid a crypto market rout that saw asset valuations plummet.
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