Animoca Brands Corporation Limited and its subsidiary Bacasable Global Limited, which operates the user-generated content platform The sandpit, have announced that the platform has raised $20 million in funding. This latest round of funding includes a $1 billion valuation cap for the platform, further cementing Animoca’s reputation as a pioneer in advancing digital property rights within the open metaverse.
The newly acquired funding will propel The Sandbox towards its goal of a decentralized virtual world. This world combines culture and gaming, allowing the community to actively contribute to and reap benefits from the development of the ecosystem.
Commitment to the Sandbox Vision
Improving earning opportunities for creators, updating Game Maker and VoxEdit’s 3D editor tools, introducing new social interactions for avatars, and launching a multiplayer rules system are all key areas of focus for future development. A mobile version of The Sandbox is also expected to be released in 2025.
Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, expressed gratitude for the continued support, saying: “McKinsey estimated that the metaverse could add $5 trillion to the global economy by 2030; Today, games like Minecraft and Roblox are among the most popular titles in the world, but they don’t offer their users digital ownership rights. The Sandbox represents the evolution of UGC games for the age of digital ownership.”
Growth and milestones
Since its Alpha launch in November 2023, The Sandbox has experienced significant growth and achieved several milestones. These achievements include more than 1,000 user-generated experiences and more than 5.7 million connected user accounts with crypto wallets.
In addition, the platform has formed partnerships with more than 400 global brands, including Lionsgate, Hellboy and Warner Music. There are currently more than 100 branded experiences in production and will be released in 2024.
The Sandbox has made significant progress in engaging creators and expanding its market. Over the past year, more than 330,000 unique creators have downloaded the no-code Game Maker.
The platform continues to attract aspiring creators through various educational initiatives, bootcamps and game jams. Additionally, The Sandbox has successfully sold and used more than 60,000 avatar NFTs from 19 brand collections in its virtual world. These collections include popular brands such as Hellboy and Rabbids.
Recent developments
Over the past six months, The Sandbox has achieved several milestones. It has enabled its more than 25,000 virtual property owners to publicly share their LAND experiences.
Additionally, it launched its Marketplace on Polygon’s L2 platform, allowing creators to mine and sell digital assets. These efforts have resulted in a vibrant economy in which users have produced more than 11,000 unique digital assets and sold them more than half a million times.