Animoca Brands, a known NFT investment giant, has recently acquired a significant stake in Be Media, an Australian digital marketing agency.
In a much-anticipated move, NFT investment giant Animoca Brands announced that it had acquired a major stake in Be Media, a digital marketing agency based in Australia. The announcement was made through the company’s Twitter account.
Be Media is one of Australia’s biggest digital marketing companies, with locations in Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne. Since 2013, the company has provided several Web2 firms with advertising and digital strategy. And while Be Media isn’t fully immersed in the cryptocurrency industry, its acquisition is part of Animoca Brands’s purpose to “shepherd companies into Web3.”
Animoca Brands’s Expansion Plans
Animoca Brands’s co-founder and chairman, Yat Siu, had previously expressed the company’s desire to usher companies into the Web3 space to accelerate the Internet’s evolution into an open Metaverse. It is in line with Siu’s advocacy for the broader concept of an open Metaverse in contrast with a closed one that centralized Web2 companies largely dominate.
Siu’s argument behind his advocacy is that decentralized Web3 platforms and technology like NFTs give users a chance to keep ownership rights over their online content and data instead of being under the control of firms like Meta, formerly Facebook.
Speaking of Animoca Brands’s road map moving forward, Siu said that it is yet to make headway in its long-term goal of establishing an open Metaverse. Nevertheless, he did stress the importance of accelerating the process, saying:
“You will continue seeing us take that approach as we sort of, you know, try to shepherd companies into Web3. A lot of this is driven by ‘how do we accelerate the adoption of web3?’ because one of the bigger risks as we see it is that if people don‘t move into space quickly enough, then inadvertently, we will perhaps also create another kind of elite.”
Be Media’s Role in Animoca Brands’s Plans
According to Animoca Brands, Be Media will be in charge of acquiring partnerships with top Australian brands relevant to Animoca’s many blockchain-focused initiatives, such as NFTs and launching an open Metaverse.
“In line with its expanded scope after the acquisition, Be Media has begun an aggressive hiring process in the fields of blockchain development and project management to support the expanding pipeline of opportunities that the company will handle,” read Animoca Brands’s announcement.
Jordan Fogarty, Be Media’s founder and CEO, is only too happy to be diving into blockchain technology with his firm. He will be retaining a minor stake in the company and continuing with his current role. Fogarty said he was “honored” to have a hand in helping local companies dive into Web3 and “introduce their customers to the metaverse, NFTs, and the power of digital property rights.”
In an interview with the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday, Fogarty implied that, currently, there is an “insane” demand from the local business sector to embrace Web3 tech, such as NFTs.
“So many brands out there are saying they need to do something in web3, but how, and there’s not many service providers with the skills and experience because it’s so new,” he said. “At the corporate level, I’d be surprised if there aren’t many companies thinking of a strategy in this space.”
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