Animoca Brands’ Japanese unit bags $45M to promote NFTs

The Japanese subsidiary of Hong Kong-based blockchain and gaming investment firm Animoca Brands has raised $45 million at a pre-money valuation of $500 million for its parent company. announced August 26th.

Japanese subsidiary Animoca Brands KK will use the new funding to secure licenses for popular intellectual property, boost internal capabilities, increase Web 3.0 adoption among partners, and expand non-substitution in Japan. Help build a token (NFT) ecosystem. press release.

The investment was made equally by Animoca Brands Corporation Limited and MUFG Bank, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

Animoca Brands has an extensive investment portfolio, including NFT marketplace Opensea, blockchain gaming startup Axie Infinity, and Dapper Labs.

According to an announcement made in March, Animoka Brands Inc. was considering collaborating with MUFG in the NFT-related business. Japan is home to a number of successful anime, manga and video game IPs, making it one of the wealthiest places for NFT businesses looking to secure IP.

However, the country currently has strict tax regimes for cryptocurrency profits. Japanese companies are subject to a tax of 30% of his, while individuals have to pay up to 55%.

The Japanese government is considering cutting the tax rate next year to discourage the outflow of cryptocurrency startups to more lucrative jurisdictions like Singapore. Nevertheless, more and more Japanese companies are turning to NFTs.

In July, banking giant Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation announced plans to partner with blockchain startup HashPort to establish a Token Business Lab to provide consulting on NFT applications to institutional clients. Japanese social media platform Line will also launch its own NFT marketplace in April 2022.