Hong Kong crypto mogul aims to raise $US1b for Web3 fund

The effects of that FTX chill and the global economic slowdown have made fundraising harder, but Mr Siu remains optimistic that capital and interest in crypto remain. A number of subsidiaries of Sequoia-backed Animoca have raised money even through the FTX cycle, Mr Siu said, without revealing names or valuations.

Animoca Brands, which has stakes in more than 380 firms, is not planning any further fundraising for itself after accepting Temasek’s investment in September, Mr Siu said. Its focus is on developing an ecosystem of complementary crypto firms building the so-called Web3 – a loosely-defined next iteration of the web with fewer intermediaries and more direct interaction between users and service and content providers.

The market turbulence has hit Animoca’s revenues because of the slump in digital asset prices, Mr Siu said. “Because our revenues are based on tokens, the overall revenue in fiat terms will also be affected.”

Online markets for digital tokens crashed in 2022, led by tightening global liquidity, the collapse of the Terra ecosystem and most recently the failure of Mr Bankman-Fried’s FTX and Alameda Research. The largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, sank more than 61 per cent over the past year while the second-ranked ether is down nearly 65 per cent.

Bloomberg