Animoca Brands hints at digital IDs after completing $20M funding round

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Web3 gaming and investment firm Animoca Brands has hinted at plans to roll out a digital identity offering for users of its ecosystem after completing a $20 million funding round.

Dubbed Moca ID, Animoca Brands confirmed that the offering will be in the form of non-transferable, non-fungible token (NFT) collections designed to allow users to shape their on-chain identities. Moca ID is expected to feature prominently in the Mocaverse, Animoca Brand’s native digital ecosystem, with holders enjoying the perks of earning loyalty points from engagement.

“These loyalty points will power a permissionless and interoperable loyalty system that will be progressively decentralized to enable third-party adoption and integration of Moca ID to advance the accessibility and growth of Web3,” read the statement.

The plans for a digital ID and points system come on the heels of Animoca Brands raising $20 million in its latest funding round. The round, led by CMCC Global, drew participation from other venture capital firms, including Kingsway Capital, Liberty City Ventures, Koda Capital, and GameFi Ventures.

We are pleased to announce that we have raised $20M of funding for @MocaverseNFT. The newly acquired capital will be used to advance the Mocaverse project, including product development, facilitating Web3 adoption, and securing partnerships.
For more:https://t.co/SZ93c7AxdV

— Animoca Brands 🛫TOKEN2049 🇸🇬 (@animocabrands) September 11, 2023

“Having built a long-term relationship with Animoca Brands, we are thrilled to be leading this first round of funding into Mocaverse,” said Martin Baumann, co-founder of CMCC Global. “The project will unify the unique portfolio of companies within the Animoca Brands umbrella and will become a portal for hundreds of millions of new users to access Web3 and metaverse ecosystems.”

Individual investors like Yat Siu, Executive Chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands; Aleksander Larsen, founder of Sky Mavis; and Gabby Dizon, founder of Yield Guild Games, all participated in the funding round. According to the official statement, the raise came in the form of Simple Agreements for Future Equity (SAFEs), which are expected to be converted to shares after six months.

Aside from SAFEs, participants in the round have been conferred with a free-attaching utility token on a 1:1 basis plus a 30-month vesting schedule.

The company says it will deploy the funds toward expanding its Mocaverse project, improving Web3 adoption, and increasing its investment portfolio. Currently, Animoca Brands has an impressive portfolio comprising over 450 Web3 investments across leading projects, including Axie Infinity (NASDAQ: AXS-USD), Dapper Labs, Colossal, and Harmony.

Digital IDs gather significant steam

Digital IDs based on blockchain technology have gathered significant steam recently, with several industry giants exploring the offering. In April, the World Economic Forum (WEF) hosted panel discussions on the prospects of blockchain-based digital IDs, with participants pointing to the benefits of fraud prevention and greater financial inclusion.

However, the attempts of Worldcoin to roll out digital IDs have been met with fierce criticisms from regulatory authorities over mounting privacy concerns. Regulators in Kenya, France, and Argentina have all launched probes into the iris-scanning project. Despite these, Worldcoin insists it has internal mechanisms to protect users’ personal data.

Watch: Web3 is natural progression of technology