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One of crypto’s leading Metaverse games, The Sandbox, is reportedly considering raising $400 million from new and existing investors at a $4 billion valuation.
The Sandbox Reportedly Seeking $400 Million
The Sandbox is reportedly eyeing another raise.
According to a Tuesday Bloomberg report, the Ethereum-based NFT game is looking to raise $400 million at a valuation of more than $4 billion. Citing people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified, the report stated that the gaming Metaverse, majority-owned by the blockchain game developer Animoca Brands, is already in talks with potential investors for the funding round.
According to the sources, the details such as the size and the valuation of the new raise are subject to change based on market sentiment and investor demand. The company’s co-founder and chief of operations Sebastien Borget initially hinted at the raise at the Non Fungible Conference in Lisbon, saying that the company was planning to move “aggressively” on hiring and acquisitions this year. It comes only six months after the game netted $93 million in a Softbank-led funding round.
The Sandbox is an open-world gaming Metaverse where users can interact with each other and buy and sell virtual assets in the form of NFTs. It gained popularity late last year after Facebook rebranded to Meta on Oct. 28., which generated hype for the leading blockchain-based Metaverse projects, including Decentraland and Axie Infinity. The Sandbox’s SAND token price surged almost tenfold within 30 days following the news of Meta’s shift toward building its own Metaverse, Horizon Worlds, hitting an all-time market cap of $6.8 billion. It’s since corrected to around $3.18 billion.
The Sandbox owns a significant portion of the SAND token supply. To generate additional revenue, it sells virtual plots of real estate called LAND within the game. In March, the platform sparked mainstream interest when the multinational banking giant HSBC announced that it bought a virtual plot of land inside the game to connect and engage with its global audience of sports, esports, and gaming enthusiasts. Other LAND owners include Snoop Dogg and Adidas.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.