Animoca Brands invests in Igloo Inc to boost consumer NFT activity

Animoca Brands made a strategic investment in Igloo, Inc., the parent company of Pudgy Penguins. The fund aims to expand NFT as consumer crypto, in addition to its Mocaverse platform. 

Igloo, Inc., the parent company behind the Pudgy Penguins NFT collection, will receive a strategic funding round from Animoca Brands. The fund, which is still one of the most active investors in Web3 and NFT, is in search of project complementing its Mocaverse brand. The Mocaverse includes NFT, digital identity, and metaverse features, aiming to revive consumer crypto with a gamified element.

Animoca Brands has continued its support for Web3 features, despite the prolonged bear market and loss of popularity. The chief subsidiary the Sandbox continues to be one of the most successful games with a Web3 elements, while Pudgy Penguins has differentiated itself from less active NFT collections. 

Pudgy Penguins is trying to stay relevant

The investment arrives at a time when Pudgy Penguins is trying to retain its relevance and community. Interest in NFT increased slightly in the past few weeks, while Pudgy Penguins remains the third-most active collection. Penguins still sell at 11.90 ETH floor price or higher, only surpassed by BAYC and Crypto Punks. 

Animoca Brand’s investment will focus on Pudgy Penguins as one of the best examples of consumer crypto. The collection’s prominence also hinges on Luca Schnetzler, known as @LucaNetz, acting as a brand ambassador and influencer. Even after NFT slowed down, Schnetzler supports the Penguins project for its community-building capabilities. 

“This investment from Animoca Brands is a testament to our vision and commitment to building a thriving ecosystem. It will continue to help us create the largest onchain community and power the next wave of consumer crypto,” said Schnetzler. 

The Pudgy Penguins brand also spans beyond the digital world, offering physical toys and other merchandise. The Pudgy Penguins brand reached an agreement with its holders to retain the rights for merchandise based on their collectible digital items. 

The platform is one of the first to tap the intellectual property of Web3, expanding into content, plushies, and mystery boxes. Each physical toy is a collectible in itself, but buyers can also customize their digital image and receive a blockchain record to serve as certificate of uniqueness. Pudgy Penguin collections are spreading in mainstream toy stores, serving as a tool for Web3 onboarding. 

The original Penguins collection only contains 8,888 items, with an additional 22,222 Lil Pudgys. The rarity is key to building the community, with its Discord communication and side platforms. The NFT collection fulfills the strategy of Igloo, Inc. to drive wider consumer crypto adoption.

Penguins retained ownership in a similar way to meme token communities, though with the added complexity of digital items. Blue chip NFT have much lower activity, but they are not entirely forgotten and may be tapped for their value. While BAYC runs on exclusivity and rare physical items, while Punks and Miladys are fully digital, Pudgy Penguins is the only brand to spread into mainstream awareness and product design.

Animoca Brands to support Abstract chain by Igloo

Animoca Brands will focus on the support of Abstract, a new chain for consumer crypto by Igloo. The investment will be made alongside subsidiary The Sandbox, as well as Animoca Brands Japan. 

The investment will take the form of a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE), a similar approach to previous Animoca Brands strategic rounds. Igloo has so far raised two funding rounds for an undisclosed value. The previous financing round for Igloo was on October 30, with Newman Capital as the single leader and participant. 

The Abstract chain will be another L2 EVM-compatible chain, which would allow a wider user audience to join Web3 with minimal obstacles and expenses. For NFT, a scalable, cheap layer is especially important, as transfers can have prohibitive costs on Ethereum. 

The Abstract L2 is still upcoming, with no main net or tokens launched. The chain will be a ZK-rollup, with no details on native tokens, speed, or fees. Igloo will aim to create a chain for its specific Web3 purposes, especially carrying the Pudgy Penguins brand. 

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