Animoca Brands enters Saudi Arabia to develop Web3, receives 50 million Mg investment from NEOM...

Animoca Brands enters Saudi Arabia to develop Web3, receives 50 million Mg investment from NEOM Fund
Animoca Brands has partnered with the Saudi Arabian market with a $50 million investment aimed at boosting the Web3 industry, which Animoca Brands says is one of their top targets for expansion due to its large gaming population and high ARPU.
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Table of Contents for this article

The Saudi Arabian market is huge

Animoca Brands Receives $50 Million Investment from Saudi Arabia's NEOM Fund

Animoca's Early Bets on Chain Tour 'Pixels'

Animoca Brands, a leading venture capital firm specializing in the development of games and meta-universes, has recently made an aggressive foray into Web3 development in Saudi Arabia, with founder Yat Siu stating in an interview that they recently signed a letter of intent to collaborate with a major scientific research center in Saudi Arabia.

Animoca Brands is understood to have expanded its partnership with the Saudi Arabia City of Science and Technology (KACST), signing a letter of intent to collaborate at the Leap Conference in Riyadh, while the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) and Cyberport signed a letter of intent to collaborate with KACST during the event.

The Saudi Arabian market is huge
Indeed Animoca Brands has long been involved in the United Arab Emirates, especially after Dubai's intention to establish itself as the region's Web3 hub, and now Animoca sees opportunities in earlier stages of development," says Yat Siu:

Most of our investments are around the world, but in terms of building infrastructure and expanding our business operations, our primary target is definitely Saudi Arabia, which is a huge market in its own right with a very strong gaming population.

Animoca Brands announced yesterday that it has entered into a strategic partnership with NEOM, the technology company of the same name that is part of the New Future City project in Saudi Arabia, with the aim of promoting the development of the Web3 industry in Saudi Arabia.

Unlike the Dubai market, which relies heavily on exports, Saudi Arabia boasts the highest average revenue per user (ARPU) in the world. according to Statista Market Insights estimates, last year, Saudi Arabia's ARPU across all film games reached $370.90, far exceeding the global average of $200.60, and significantly outperforming most Southeast Asian markets.

For Southeast Asian countries, last year's ARPU for movie games was estimated at $87.74 in the Philippines, $100.20 in Malaysia, and $83.50 in Vietnam. brunei and Thailand were the only countries in the region that exceeded the global ARPU for games, at $303.70 and $252, respectively.

Animoca Brands Receives $50 Million Investment from Saudi Arabia's NEOM Fund
Just last year, Animoca Brands announced a strategic partnership with NEOM, the technology company of the same name that is part of the New Future City project in Saudi Arabia, with the aim of promoting the development of the Web3 industry in Saudi Arabia.

As part of the partnership, NEOM Investment Fund (NIF), NEOM's investment fund, plans to invest $50 million in Animoca Brands, of which $25 million will be through the issuance of convertible notes and $25 million will be used for the purchase of the company's shares in the secondary market, said Majid Mufti, CEO of NIF:

We are delighted to be working with Animoca Brands to support the development of NEOM's digital infrastructure.

Web3 technology and infrastructure development will not only be an important foundation for NEOM's technology stack and architecture, but has the potential to revolutionize the industry globally, and through our partnership with Animoca Brands, we hope to accelerate the development and adoption of Web3 technology.

Animoca's Early Bets on Chain Tour 'Pixels'
In 2022, Animoca Brands led a $2.4 million investment in Pixels, a pixel-inspired farm game that recently became a hit in the Philippines, where players earn crypto tokens as extra income by harvesting virtual crops.

The game's developers told the press that about 30 percent of GameFi players live in the Philippines, said Yat Siu:

Our philosophy works just as we want it to.

Places like the Philippines and Southeast Asia are hotspots for innovation in the Web3 gaming space, especially because of their appreciation for capitalism and the opportunities around digital property rights.

Southeast Asia is a growing market with established frameworks, and in Saudi Arabia we actually have to design those frameworks.