Animoca Brands on track to end 2024 as a VC funding leader

Animoca Brands has surpassed other VC funds both in number and money invested. The fund transformed from a game ICO and pivoted into supporting Web3, NFT projects, and additional games.

Animoca Brands is on track to wrap up 2024 with double its average monthly investments. As the most active VC fund for months in a row, Animoca Brands has also expanded into 33 sectors for on-chain decentralized startups.

Animoca Brands continued to keep its hand on the pulse of Web3, picking out high-profile projects like Pudgy Penguins. In the course of 2024, Animoca Brands continued its track record with new selections each month, participating in mid-range rounds of up to $10M.

Beyond securing funds, Animoca Brands is also helping select the best potential performers in Web3, gaming, and other on-chain sectors.

Animoca Brands pivoted to AI while decreasing its share in gaming projects. | Source: Cryptorank

As a whole, crypto funding in 2024 responded positively to the bull market reawakening. Although far from the investment hype of 2021 and 2022, VC funding grew compared to 2023, the most stagnant year of the bear market.

Animoca Brands extended the success of Q3 funding, where investments reached $2.4M. For the first three quarters of 2024, funds injected $8B in crypto startups, on track to match and slightly exceed the funding levels of 2024. Animoca Brands has expanded its portfolio and funding efforts above the average level for other funds.

In 2024, the total number of investment rounds is on track to rise to 3,308, up from 2,589 in 2023. Most of the funding has gone to US-based projects. Animoca Research also expanded the fund’s influence, with a recent special focus on the TON ecosystem.

Animoca Brands breaks above 100 rounds for 2024

Animoca Brands achieved over 101 rounds as of December 1, but continued with new investments in the final stretch of 2024. The company also served as a smart money indicator, discovering potentially hot games and platforms.

On average, VC funds joined 85 rounds in the year to date.

The pace of funding continued in December with Neptune Protocol for $3.9M. Before that, Animoca Brands engaged with startups like Bounty Bay, Haven 1, and GAIB. The biggest recent funding round was for BLIFE Protocol, where Animoca Brands helped raise $7M.

As with previous months, the VC fund targeted seed-stage startups, though it also participated in undisclosed rounds for general purposes.

In 2024, Animoca Brands completed an average of nine rounds, compared to an average of four rounds in 2023. This year, the VC fund also diversified its portfolio of projects. Despite remaining a supporter of Web3 games, Animoca Brands decreased its share of game projects from 40% in 2023 to 30% this year.

Animoca Brands also decreased its allocation to top narratives, instead shifting to AI. The fund participated in a wider selection of brands and in a smaller number of top-notch rounds.

Animoca Brands was a backer in some of the top funding deals in 2024. The deals included Monad Labs ($225M), Berachain ($100M), and OG Labs ($40M).

Smaller funds keep up the pace in 2024

The years of large-scale VC-backed projects seem to be over. While Pantera Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and others were still active, the biggest number of rounds accrued to crypto-native funds.

OKX Ventures and Binance Labs were among the top 5 investors this year. Robot Ventures also rose to prominence, with a total of 52 rounds in the year to date.

In the past 30 days, Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital and Vitalik Buterin joined a series of rounds. For the past month, the top 3 deals included StakeStone ($22M), OG Labs, and Suilend ($4M).

For now, VC funds are staying away from the meme token trend, which is too volatile for any strategic intentions. VC companies are also seeking new models to avoid the accusations of dumping tokens on the community and crashing prices.

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