Animoca denies reports of $200M cut to Metaverse fund and valuation drop to $2B
Venture capital firm and Web3 game developer Animoca Brands has refuted claims that it scaled back its Metaverse fund target by $200 million, or 20% to $800 million amid volatility in the crypto market and instability in the banking sector.
The firm also down-played suggestions that its valuation has plummeted from $6 billion as of July 2022 to roughly $2 billion in March 2023.
Stemming from a March 24 Reuters report that cited anonymous “people familiar with the matter,” it was claimed that Animoca initially halved its $2 billion Metaverse fund target in January, and then recently followed that up by cutting it down another 20% to $800 million.
The fund in question was announced in November, with the goal of allocating capital to mid to late-stage startups with a Metaverse focus. At the time, Animoca co-founder and chairman Yat Siu outlined that the fund target was between $1 billion to $2 billion, depending on how much capital was raised.
In a public statement shared with Cointelegraph, Animoca stated that “the claim that the Animoca Capital fund target was ‘cut’ from $2 billion to $1 billion is not correct, because $1 billion has always been within the range declared.”
The firm did acknowledge that the banking collapses in the U.S. have of course had an impact, but stressed that the final amount raised for the fund has yet to be determined.
“There's no doubt that the FTX and banking crises have had a serious impact on available venture capital, but fundraising for the Animoca Capital fund is in progress. When the raise is concluded we will inform the market with the appropriate details, including the final size of this fund,” the firm stated.
Commenting on the leaked information, Siu told Cointelegraph that given the
Read more on cointelegraph.com
