The Sandbox, the user-generated content (UGC) metaverse platform and a subsidiary of open metaverse company Animoca Brands, has secured US$20 million of convertible promissory notes with a US$1 billion valuation cap.
Kingsway Capital and Animoca Brands led the strategic round and LG Tech Ventures and True Global Ventures participated.
The new funding will be used to advance The Sandbox’s vision of a decentralised virtual world where culture meets gaming and where the community can participate in the growth of the whole ecosystem.
The Sandbox will continue to improve earning opportunities for creators on its platform by updating its Game Maker and VoxEdit 3D editor tools, introducing new social interactions and abilities for avatars, and expanding gameplay possibilities via its new multiplayer rules system, expected to launch in Beta later this year and to the public in 2025.
Additionally, The Sandbox is developing a version of its decentralised metaverse for mobile devices, which is expected to launch in 2025.
Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said: “McKinsey estimated that by 2030 the metaverse could add US$5 trillion to the global economy; today, games like Minecraft and Roblox are some of the most popular titles in the world, but they do not provide their users with digital property rights. The Sandbox represents the evolution of UGC games for the age of digital ownership.”
The Sandbox is an immersive metaverse platform in which users play, create, and monetise unique experiences alongside their favourite brands, IPs, and celebrities across gaming, entertainment, music, art, and other aspects of culture.
It leverages Web3 technologies to fully enable end-user creation and creator economies by providing players and creators with “true ownership” of their assets, creations, and rewards in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Over 400 partners have joined The Sandbox, including Warner Music Group, Gucci, Ubisoft, Paris Hilton, The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Lacoste, Steve Aoki, The Smurfs, and many more.
In the last 12 months, over 330,000 unique creators have downloaded The Sandbox’s no-code Game Maker.
Also Read: True Global Ventures injects US$10M into NFT metaverse game The Sandbox
To date, over 60,000 avatar NFTs have been sold and used to play in the virtual world of The Sandbox, including NFTs from 19 official branded collections such as Hellboy, Magnificent Century, Rabbids, MadBalls, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Paris Hilton, Captain Tsubasa, Maradona, Elvis Presley, Cut The Rope, Habbo Hotel, Agoria, and others.
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