Key Highlights
- Animoca Brands is looking to expand beyond gaming into AI, DeFi, DePIN, and stablecoins.
- Gaming remains central to the firm, with 230 of its 628 investments in Web3 games.
- The company plans to go public on Nasdaq next year via a reverse merger with Currenc Group.
Web3 gaming company Animoca Brands is planning to grow beyond gaming and start investing in areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN), and stablecoins, according to Chief Strategy Officer Keyvan Peymani.
In an interview with CNBC, Peymani said, “We invest in dozens of companies a year. The aim for that, whether it is AI or DePIN or DeFi or games, or any of the kind of new sectors and stablecoins and opportunities that are coming in, is to always look at how the ecosystem we are a part of is expanding.”
Gaming remains a core focus
Animoca Brands, founded in 2014, has invested in 628 companies, 230 of which are focused on gaming. Despite branching out, gaming remains a cornerstone for the company. Peymani said players can “benefit from their time and energy and effort and money that they spend in those games to have an asset that lives beyond in the Web3 space.”
The company has been an early supporter of popular Web3 gaming projects like Axie Infinity, CryptoKitties, Colossal, and Yield Guild Games. But now the company is also putting money into infrastructure, AI, and DeFi.
Expanding into AI, DeFi, and Stablecoins
Stablecoins and Real World Assets (RWAs) are now some of Animoca’s main focuses. “Whenever there is something interesting and exciting happening, as with stablecoins and RWAs, that we’re going to become one of the market leaders,” Peymani said. The firm added that it wants to create opportunities for the retail sector to benefit from these new developments in Web3.
Co-founder Yat Siu said, “The institutional aspect won’t just be led by Bitcoin and buy some tokens to have exposure. It’s going to be institutional adoption in terms of utility, because of the market structure bill.” He noted, referring to the draft crypto market structure bill released by US lawmakers on November 11, which the Senate plans to vote on in December.
Moreover, the crypto market has been growing fast. The third quarter of 2025 saw a 290% jump in crypto venture funding, reaching $4.8 billion, according to Galaxy Digital.
Most of the money went to companies founded in 2018, while the highest number of deals were made by companies started in 2024. Animoca Brands also plans to go public on Nasdaq next year through a reverse merger with Currenc Group, a fintech company that focuses on AI.
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