Animoca Brands has announced a strategic investment into Pudgy Penguins company Igloo Inc, in the form of a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE).
Enforcing its confidence in the Pudgy Penguins IP, Animoca Brands‘ subsidiaries The Sandbox and Animoca Brands Japan also participated in the investment.
Igloo subsidiary Cube Labs and its parent company recently announced they’re working on Abstract, an Ethereum scaling L2 custom-built for consumer-centric applications. Animoca Brands’ investment aims to drive community engagement through cross-community marketing and collaboration between Abstract and Animoca Brands’ Mocaverse.
Launched on Ethereum in 2021, Pudgy Penguins initially started as an 8,888 strong NFT collection. Later that year, the team created Lil Pudgys, an extension of the initial collection, consisting of 22,222 NFTs.
Since the company CEO Luca Schnetzler bought the brand in 2022, the IP has expanded to physical plushies and merch, as well as ventured into gaming. In 2023, the team announced it was working on social open world game Pudgy World, and most recently it’s partnered with leading web3 game developer Mythical Games on mobile social party game Pudgy Party.
Animoca Brands co-founder and chairman Yat Siu commented, “Our investment in Pudgy Penguins is not only a financial commitment but also reflects our belief in the transformative power of intellectual property rights. Given Luca’s strong track record in innovation and execution, we’re thrilled to support him and his team as they continue to push the envelope and create engaging user experiences for one of the most recognizable brands in the world of web3.”
Pudgy Penguins CEO Schnetzler added, “This investment from Animoca Brands is a testament to our vision and commitment to building a thriving ecosystem. It will continue to help us create the largest onchain community and power the next wave of consumer crypto.”
