Asian blockchain gaming giant Animoca Brands has received $100 million from Singapore state-owned Temasek, further solidifying the firm as a metaverse mainstay.

What once was a small Hong Kong-based video game studio, Animoca Brands has grown to become the largest blockchain investment unit in Asia, with over 340 portfolio companies including top metaverse plays, The Sandbox and Decentraland. 

Temasek will be financing the latest raise through convertible bonds, according to Bloomberg. This raise comes shortly after Animoca Brands Japan received $45 million from MUFG Bank, Japan’s largest bank, to increase its Web3 footprint in the country last week. 

Animoca Brands also secured a $75.32 million deal in July — the second part of its $360 million raise from January this year — led by prominent venture capitalists such as Sequoia and the Winklevoss twins.

Not just Animoca: Investors see a future for metaverse gaming

Animoca’s focus on investing in blockchain gaming startups aligns with many other venture capitalists jumping into Web3.

According to Chainplay’s State of GameFi 2022 survey, gaming remains one of the most common ways investors worldwide first join crypto. In fact, 68% of the near-2500 GameFi investors surveyed joined the Web3 market less than a year ago.

Vance Spencer, co-founder of Framework Ventures, told Blockworks earlier this month that despite the crypto winter, gaming remains a popular sector due to the sheer number of people who play on a daily basis around the world.

Studies have predicted that the metaverse industry is expected to grow from $63.8 million in 2021 to around $1.6 billion by 2030, although that figure includes gaming sectors which don’t explicitly use blockchains.

Animoca and Temasek did not immediately respond to Blockworks’ request for comment.

Article updated at 10:57 am ET to correct metaverse industry denomination.

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