Animoca Brands Leads $10M Funding Round for NFT Platform Ucollex

Ucollex, a Hong Kong-based non-fungible token (NFT) platform focused on art and pop culture collectibles, has closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by Animoca Brands and the MCP IPX One Fund from Japanese investment firm MCP Asset Management. The valuation of the company was not disclosed.

Animoca Brands has a portfolio of over 150 investments in NFT-related companies and decentralized products, including Dapper Labs and Sky Mavis.

Ucollex’s NFT platform doesn’t require buyers to have a digital wallet and offers exclusive content, artist interviews, 3D art and virtual reality experiences. Last autumn, it teamed up with crypto exchange Binance to support the first NFT launch from luxury fashion brand Jimmy Choo.

The new capital will be used to scale operations, including platform and blockchain tech development, Ucollex board member Roberto Grande told CoinDesk in an email. The funding will also help drive marketing efforts related to significant intellectual property (IP) partnerships, which will be announced soon.

“‘Collectortainment’ is going to be our core offering here as we look to bridge the existing global fandom for pop culture collectibles into the new paradigm of blockchain ownership and utility,” Ucollex CEO Robert Tran told CoinDesk.

“Anime, toy and pop culture illustrators are our major focus for 2022 as we believe these digital collectibles are shaping the new consumer spending in a very impactful way,” Tran continued.

Animoca Brands co-founder and Executive Chairman Yat Siu said in a press release that “we are pleased to lead this investment, which we believe will make it easier for intellectual properties to participate in the open metaverse.”

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