The Sandbox secures $20 million in funding with a $1 billion valuation to grow creator economy in open metaverse

Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said: “We are deeply honoured by the continuing commitment to the vision of The Sandbox, and we’re  incredibly excited about the future of composable user-generated content games. McKinsey estimated that by 2030 the metaverse could add $5 trillion to the global economy; today, games like Minecraft and Roblox are some of the most popular titles in the world, but they do not provide their users with digital property rights. The Sandbox represents the evolution of UGC games for the age of digital ownership.”

The new funding will be used to continue advancing The Sandbox’s vision of a decentralized virtual world where culture meets gaming and where the community is able to participate actively in, and derive benefit from, the growth of the whole ecosystem.

As part of this vision, The Sandbox will continue to improve earning opportunities for creators on its platform, including by: updating its Game Maker and VoxEdit 3D editor tools; introducing new social interactions and abilities for avatars; and expanding gameplay possibilities via its new multiplayer rules system, expected to launch in Beta later this year and to the public in 2025. Additionally, The Sandbox is developing a version of its decentralized metaverse for mobile devices, expected to launch in 2025.

The Sandbox has established itself as one of the leading mainstream applications onboarding new users to Web3, leveraging the power of fandom to drive new audiences to explore the metaverse. It has over 400 partnerships with global brands, including Lionsgate, Hellboy, Magnificent Century, Habbo, Space Invaders in Shibuya109, Notorious BIG, Warner Music, Ubisoft, Snoop Dogg, Gucci and hundreds of others. Over one hundred experiences featuring global brands are currently in production and planned for launch throughout 2024.

In the last 12 months, over 330,000 unique creators have downloaded The Sandbox’s no-code Game Maker, and The Sandbox is now ramping up its efforts to attract first-time creators through multiple initiatives including education efforts, bootcamps, and game jams.

Arthur Madrid, CEO and co-founder of The Sandbox, said: “The open metaverse empowers anyone to express themselves while discovering and engaging with the culture of millions of other users. Our mission at The Sandbox is to develop creative tools and technologies that bring fairness and new opportunities for all types of creators in the open metaverse in all aspects of culture, particularly games, music, fashion, art, sports, and entertainment.”

Sebastien Borget, COO and co-founder of The Sandbox, said: “We’re excited to welcome new strategic partners who support our vision to develop the most accessible and inclusive platform that makes available the opportunities of Web3 to a global mainstream audience, and where brands and communities join hands to co-create the future of gaming and entertainment. The Sandbox is a proud believer in the power of the metaverse to shape our digital tomorrow to be collaborative, fair, and open.”

Anshul Agarwa, managing director at LG Technology Ventures, said: “Our mission at LG Tech Ventures is to bolster the visionaries who are shaping emerging trends, including Web3 adoption and consumer entertainment. The Sandbox’s distinctive approach to Web3 and gaming can unlock transformative opportunities for the global creators economy.”

Over the last six months, The Sandbox has passed various notable milestones, including: enabling all of its more than 25,000 virtual real estate owners to publish their LAND experiences to the public; opening its Marketplace on Polygon’s L2, allowing creators to mint and sell their digital assets; and developing a thriving economy in which users have created more than 11,000 unique digital assets that have been minted and sold over half a million times.

The Sandbox ecosystem now boasts over 250 Trusted Partners, who are persons and agencies trained and certified by The Sandbox to assist brands and IP holders to build metaverse experiences for their fans. The number of Trusted Partners is expected to continue to grow as The Sandbox explores new markets in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, and Africa, among others.

About The Sandbox