Why we continue to invest and support Sky Mavis (creators of Axie Infinity)
Animoca Brands has been a supporter of Axie Infinity and its community since its early days, and back in 2019 we led an investment into Sky Mavis, the creator of Axie Infinity.
The reasons that we invested in Sky Mavis four years ago still apply today.
In fact, our conviction in the team behind Axie Infinity has only grown since then, which is why we participated in Sky Mavis’s current funding round, following the crisis of the Ronin hack of 23 March 2022.
Sky Mavis is one of the strongest and most dedicated builders in the crypto space, and is as passionate about NFTs, blockchain gaming, and digital property rights as we are here at Animoca Brands. During the harsh crypto winter of 2018–2019, when a Bitcoin was worth three thousand and something dollars and one Ether fetched only a few hundred dollars, Axie Infinity not only survived, not only thrived, but emerged as a killer, market-setting product.
If Sky Mavis could accomplish all that while working through crypto’s long and lonely night, imagine what the team can do now that they have:
1) a significant multi-billion dollar treasury in tokens, fiat and digital assets
2) a massive, highly engaged community of supporters and powerful friends
3) the benefit of a more mature #play&earn market — one that Axie Infinity pretty much trailblazed and defined
More than just a game, more than just a community, Axie Infinity is a proto-nation with a governance system, a sizeable population, and an active economy. And we strongly believe that the nation of Axie Infinity will not only endure, it will thrive.
Like a nation — or indeed like any friend — it is during times of difficulties that you can really tell who your allies are. Axie Infinity is receiving a fantastic level of support not just from its community, but also from its investors and the wider industry.
Here at Animoca Brands, our support is based not only on our long friendship, but also on plain and logical economic common sense, because Sky Mavis is a great company with incredible performance, by virtually any measure.
Additionally, this is a good opportunity to demonstrate how Web3 and the open metaverse revolve around the shared network effect: when one community, such as Axie Infinity grows and prospers, the benefits extend to other participants in the wider ecosystem. We need to grow this space together, and that means we need to be there for each other.
We are proud to support this round and we know that Axie Infinity will continue to be a leader in the world of NFT and blockchain gaming.
A photo from 2019 taken in South Korea when we spent time with Axie Infinity founders, Trung Thanh Nguyen, Aleksander Larsen, Jeffrey “Jiho” Zirlin and also Sebastien Borget from The Sandbox and Simon from Hashed
