On October 30th, Animoca Brands, a company specializing in incubating Web3 and NFT Game projects based in Hong Kong, officially entered into a strategic partnership with the Saudi Arabian government’s $500 billion investment fund – NEOM.
This collaboration aims to accelerate the development of Web3 infrastructure in the region, aligning with the “Saudi Vision 2030” strategy, which seeks to diversify the economy, society, and culture.
“Developing Web3 infrastructure and technology will not only be a crucial foundation for the NEOM technology architecture but also has the potential to revolutionize global industries. By collaborating with a leading Web3 market player like Animoca Brands, we hope to expedite the development and adoption of this technology,” said Majid Mufti, CEO of the NEOM Investment Fund.
As part of the agreement, the NEOM Investment Fund, NEOM’s strategic investment arm, will invest $50 million in Animoca Brands. Animoca Brands will receive $25 million through the issuance of convertible bonds at a conversion price of 4.50 AUD (Australian dollars) per share. The remaining $25 million will come from NEOM’s purchase of shares in this Web3 game developer on the secondary market.
NEOM is a futuristic smart city worth $500 billion located on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia and is part of the “Saudi Vision 2030” plan. NEOM will comprise multiple interconnected super cities, an industrial complex, business zones, research centers, sports facilities, entertainment venues, and tourist destinations. It is designed to become a hub for innovative renewal, where entrepreneurs and business leaders will come to research, nurture, and commercialize technologies and their companies in innovative ways. This plan is part of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman’s efforts to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy, reducing its dependence on oil.
In recent years, the broader Middle East region has rapidly embraced the adoption of emerging technologies. Alongside the NEOM project, Saudi Arabia has also partnered with Chinese universities to develop an Arabic language-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) system for handling local language queries.
Furthermore, on October 18, 2023, OpenAI, the developer of the renowned AI chatbot ChatGPT, announced a collaboration with G42, a technology conglomerate headquartered in Dubai, focusing on expansion in the Middle East.
Early in October 2023, the leading Cardano investment fund, Adaverse, also chose Saudi Arabia as the location to expand its Web3 investment portfolio.
Saudi Arabia, the largest country in the Western Asia region, accounts for 45% of the $1.8 billion gaming market in the Middle East-North Africa region. Its population is highly tech-savvy, making it a fertile ground for the growth of Web3.