Animoca Brands acquires a majority stake in deadmau5 and Plastikman’s music metaverse PIXELYNX

Web3 giant Animoca Brands has taken a majority stake in the music metaverse gaming platform Pixelynx. The Hong Kong-based company plans to “build, invest in, and acquire studios, infrastructure, and technologies that will power the future of the music industry.”

Los Angeles-based Pixelynx was founded by musicians and music and gaming experts: deadmau5, Richie Hawtin (Plastikman), Inder Phull, Ben Turner, and Dean Wilson. The company has been operating in five countries. 

Pixelynx is developing products that bridge music, gaming, and Web3 to create a physical and digital network for artists and their fans. The platform’s ecosystem gives artists control over how they create experiences with fans, partners, and other platforms, as well as offers music artists more opportunities to monetize music. 

According to Goldman Sachs, global music revenue is predicted to reach $131 billion by 2030. Animoca Brands and Pixelynx will focus on developing new formats of music consumption for the metaverse to unlock new revenue streams.

“This deal marks the beginning of a new era in the music industry in which Web3, gaming, and transmedia content will unlock new formats, revenue streams, and business models that support artists, fans, and labels,”

said Inder Phull, the CEO of Pixelynx.

Last week, Richie Hawtin and deadmau5’s music metaverse startup revealed Elynxir, a music-themed Niantic Lightship AR-powered game that came out during Art Basel Miami. Elynxir is a scavenger hunt inspired by the popular free AR game Pokemon Go. With the new AR experience, players can socialize with other users, remix music, and collect NFTs from dedicated collections. Animoca Brands will integrate Pixelynx’s Elynxir into its ecosystem, focusing on “interoperability, open standards, and new interactive audio-visual formats.”

Pixelynx also operates LynxLabs, an investment program that builds the next wave of music and entertainment ventures.

Exactly a year ago, on December 6, 2021, Animoca Brands published an announcement that it had led a $4.5 million seed investment round for Pixelynx. Other investors included Solana Ventures, Alameda Research, Republic Realm, Sfermion, and more.