Animoca Brands Backs Upland’s Real Estate-Based Metaverse With $18M Raise

Upland, a metaverse game that combines the EOS blockchain with real-world landmarks, has raised $18 million in a Series A funding round, valuing the company at $300 million. The funding round was led by Animoca Brands, a prominent investor in metaverse gaming startups. Other participants in the round included C3 Management, OneTeam Partners, Block.one, Alumni Ventures Blockchain Fund, and Global Founders Capital.

Upland is a mobile game where users can buy and sell virtual land parcels representing real-life properties. Since its launch in early 2020, the game has attracted over 100,000 virtual landowners across 13 virtual cities and has facilitated the sale of over 2 million non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The virtual properties are bought and sold using Upland's virtual currency on a peer-to-peer market within the app. Properties in popular cities like New York and San Francisco are in high demand.

The new funding will be used to expand Upland's presence in the United States and Europe, as well as to invest in brand partnerships and user acquisition. The company also plans to introduce virtual real estate in London in the near future. Upland aims to differentiate itself by connecting the virtual world with the real world and incorporating engaging game mechanics that create numerous use cases for NFTs.

Animoca Brands, known for its investments in gaming and blockchain, led the funding round. The company has been a major supporter of metaverse gaming startups and recently raised $65 million at a valuation of $2.2 billion. Some of Animoca Brands' recent investments include Genopets, a GameFi project focused on "move-to-earn" gameplay, and reNFT, a company developing lending protocols for NFTs with rentable use cases.

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