Metaverse Startup The Sandbox Closes $93M Series B Led by SoftBank

Metaverse startup The Sandbox said it closed a $93 million Series B funding round led by SoftBank.

The Sandbox is an Ethereum-based platform where players can “play, create, own, and govern a virtual world,” its site states.
Players can own in-game assets in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), such as plots of land that they can build on.
The Sandbox token, SAND, has a $2.46 billion market cap, according to data from intelligence platform CoinMarketCap.
The startup’s majority stakeholder is Hong Kong-based gaming firm Animoca Brands, an early metaverse and GameFi backer that was valued at $2.2 billion after raising $65 million in October.
Other investors in the round include True Global Ventures, Liberty City Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Kingsway Capital and Blue Pool Capital.
Singapore-based True Global Ventures contributed $10 million to the round through its blockchain-focused 4 Plus fund, according to a separate press release shared with CoinDesk.
The virtual world now has $144 million in gross merchandise value, 500,000 registered wallets, and 12,000 unique landowners, the press release said.
The Sandbox has set up partnerships with names like rapper Snoop Dogg, AMC TV series “The Walking Dead,” children’s cartoons “Care Bears” and “The Smurfs,” gaming brand Atari and non-fungible token (NFT) collection CryptoKitties.

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UPDATE (Nov. 2, 10:00 UTC): Adds details about True Global Ventures investment.

The Sandbox metaverse counts 500,000 registered wallets, the startup said.