The Sandbox: Riding the Wave to a $1 Billion Valuation in the Ethereum Metaverse

[TL; DR]

Animoca Brands and Kingsway Capital assisted the Sandbox to raise $1 million for the improvement of various features and functionalities.

The Sandbox has a $1 billion valuation which indicates its steady growth over the years.

The Sandbox aims to improve its creator tools and gameplay features.

Introduction

The introduction of the metaverse has changed the way people interact with each other. That also ushered in a new way of earning a living as people can easily participate in the metaverse economy. Examples of leading metaverse economies are Decentraland and Sandbox. In this article we cover Sandbox’s fund raising activity and expansion goal.

Basically, Sandbox is a decentralized gaming platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. It has digital pieces of land, represented by non-fungible tokens, which people can buy and establish virtual assets like real estate.

The Sandbox Raised 20 Million in a Recent Funding Round

Sandbox, the metaverse platform, is one of the latest crypto unicorns that provides decentralized digital service in the form of virtual assets. Animoca Brands, Sandbox’s parent company, and Kingsway Capital played a great role in raising the $20 million for Sandbox. After raising $20 million in promissory notes, the new crypto unicorn attained a valuation of $1 billion. The other firms that participated in the fundraising activity include Bacasable Global Limited, LG Tech Ventures and True Global Ventures.

Sandbox’s recent fundraising came two years after its initial plan to raise $400 million at a $4 billion valuation. The promissory notes holders can easily convert the investment instruments into Bacasable Global equity.

Yat Siu’s Vision on the Future of the Sandbox Platform

Recently, Yat Siu, Animoca Brands co-founder, said that Sandbox is focused on “the evolution of UGC games for the age of digital ownership.” In a press release, Arthur Madrid, Sandbox co-founder and CEO, said, “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 a similar statement Siu said, “We are deeply honored by the continuing commitment to the vision of The Sandbox, and we’re incredibly excited about the future of composable user-generated content games.”

Madrid added, “With our investors, we share a vision of the metaverse. They also see Roblox is also finding ways to reach a new kind of immersive experience. We have a focus on Asia and there is a completely different view of the market there. Asia is a completely different market when it comes to Web3.”

The Sandbox’s Development Priorities

After raising the $20 million the Sandbox team has set out to meet several targets during 2024. The team’s key objectives include developing a mobile version to be launched in 2025, improving creator tools and new gameplay features. Apart from developing a decentralized metaverse for mobile devices Sandbox will use the funds to update its 3D editor tools and Game Maker.

Siu wants Sandbox to offer its users unique benefits, incomparable to other gaming platforms. He clarified his view when he said, “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.”

Madrid expanded Sandbox’s future aspirations. He 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.”

In its path towards its key objectives Sandbox attained several objectives including enabling its virtual land owners to publish their unique LAND experiences to the public. It also established a marketplace on Polygon’s L2 which enables the creators to develop and sell their virtual assets which transformed the platform into a thriving economy.

Read also about The Sandbox (SAND) Price Prediction 2024-2030

The Sandbox in the Metaverse Eco

The sandbox is one of the leading metaverse economies with over 125,000 creators and millions of users. Recently, the decentralized virtual platforms added more than 330,000 unique creators who have already downloaded The Sandbox’s no-code Game Maker. On the other hand, SAND, Sandbox’s native cryptocurrency is within the top 100 crypto assets, based on market capitalization. It is competing with other leading metaverse based tokens such as MANA for Decentraland.

There are several reasons why Sandbox is trending. First off, the metaverse platform rewards creators for their creativity. For Example, when players sell their virtual assets in its marketplace they earn crypto tokens. Similarly, they also earn the tokens when they monetize their games or rent their NFT Land plots to other gamers.

In related news, The Sandbox launched a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that will enable the token holders to participate in decision making regarding developmental issues such as the introduction of new features. The Sandbox users who own the SAND token or NFT-based LAND plots will have the chance to propose or vote on various aspects of the game like new game features, upgrades, rewards or future events.

Read also: Top 10 Best Metaverse Virtual Worlds with Land NFTs

The Impact of Celebrity and Brand Partnerships

Sandbox boost of many metaverse partnerships that include over 250 Trusted Partners such as agencies and individuals trained and certified by The Sandbox to help IP holders to create metaverse experiences for their followers. The partners also assist in promoting the Sandbox brand.

Currently, Sandbox is onboarding partners from various regions including Africa, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. Examples of global brands that have partnered the Sandbox are Lionsgate, Hellboy, Ubisoft, Magnificent Century, Habbo, Warner Music and Space Invaders in Shibuya109. Apart from these brands the Sandbox eco has the support of many celebrities who include Snoop Dogg, Gucci, Notorious BIG and Paris Hilton.

Regarding this Borget 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.”

Since these celebrities have large followers they attract players to the Sandbox game. Some of these users invest in different digital assets such as virtual real estate. For Example, in 2021 one investor paid $450,000 to acquire a virtual land adjacent to Snoop Dogg’s metaverse mansion. As a fact, Snoop Dogg recreated his California mansion on the Ethereum metaverse game platform. Basically, the land on the Sandbox is sold in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Conclusion

Recently, the Sandbox raised $20 million to be used for improving its infrastructure. Animoca Brands and Kingsway Capital played a central role in raising the capital. Now, the Sandbox has a valuation of $1 billion signifying its steady growth over the years. In its bid to promote its brand The Sandbox has forged partnerships with various organizations and individuals.