Animoca Brands Japan commits to invest in SmartRetail Group
16 March 2023 - Animoca Brands K.K. (“Animoca Brands Japan”), a strategic subsidiary of Animoca Brands Corporation Limited ("Animoca Brands") today announced that it has committed to make a strategic investment into SmartRetail.
SmartRetail is the leading Engagement Out-of-home (EOOH) or Digital Out of Home V2.0 (DOOH 2.0) player in Asia, offering its disruptive action-based advertising technology, anonymous facial recognition technology, and consumer insights solutions to retailer partners that include convenience stores, petrol stations, vending machines, and others. This enables them to monetize their consumer traffic through valuable external advertising actions that generate immediate in-store incentives for the consumers. SmartRetail has partnerships with many blue-chip clients across Asia, including in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Taiwan.
Leveraging the strategic investment by Animoca Brands Japan and the support of Animoca Brands Japan’s shareholder MUFG Bank, Ltd. (“MUFG”), Japan’s largest bank, SmartRetail will expand into Japan with the goal of building an EOOH platform that also enables Web3 to real-life integration as well as providing the option of offering Web3 incentives to consumers.
Animoca Brands Japan advances the mission of Animoca Brands (Headquarters: Hong Kong) and aims to build a Web3 ecosystem in Japan with partner companies and portfolio companies. Like its parent company, Animoca Brands Japan envisions Web3 as a more equitable virtual society thanks to its characteristic of enabling true digital ownership for individuals, which the company believes offers significant economic opportunities in Japan and beyond.
Animoca Brands Japan intends to continue contributing to the advancement of Web3 by making strategic investments in the industry.
Kyoya Okazawa, co-founder of Animoca Brands Japan, commented: “As post-COVID activity is in full swing and people return to the streets, the retail media business is expanding rapidly in Japan. We are pleased to have the opportunity to invest in SmartRetail, which already has a strong track record in the retail media business using digital signage in vending machines, train stations, retail stores, and gas stations. Through this investment, Animoca Brands Japan will continue to support SmartRetail's expansion into Japan and pave the way for Retail Media to integrate with Web3, creating new possibilities for consumer engagement and incentives.”
Adam So, founder and CEO of SmartRetail, commented: “With the investment from Animoca Brands, a leader in the Web3 ecosystem with strong business connections in Japan, we are going to accelerate the creation of our Asia-wide Engagement Out-of-home platform, delivering value to both consumers and our partners and becoming a bridge between Web3 and real life. Our partners and advertisers will be able to create new strategies to engage consumers and users by offering experiences that are both virtual and physical. The possibilities are many, such as Web3 games offering NFT items that come with free products at convenience stores or vending machines every month, or advertising campaigns that give you special NFTs or in-game items after purchasing a real-life product.”
About SmartRetail
Company Name: SmartRetail Group Limited
Office Address: 3-5 Wang Tai Road, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong
Representative: Adam So
Business Description:
SmartRetail is the leading Engagement Out-of-home (EOOH or DOOH 2.0) player in Asia, offering its disruptive action-based advertising technology, anonymous facial recognition technology and consumer insights solutions to its retailer partners (convenience stores, petrol stations, vending machines etc.), enabling them to monetize their consumer traffic through valuable external advertising actions (scans, downloads, consumer leads) that generate immediate in-store incentives (discounts, free products) for the consumers.
Established: 2018
Homepage: www.smartretail.co
About Animoca Brands Japan
Founded in 2021, Animoca Brands Japan (corporate name: Animoca Brands K.K.) is the strategic subsidiary in Japan of Animoca Brands Corporation Limited, a leading global Web3 company. Animoca Brands Japan was established to support the global Web3 strategies of Japanese intellectual property and content holders such as major publishers, brands, education, sports teams, athletes, artists and game companies. Animoca Brands Japan provides a platform that combines IPs with blockchain technology, and supports IP holders to build their own ecosystem through a full stack of Web3 services, providing a bridge between Japanese IPs and global fans. For more information, please visit https://www.animocabrands.co.jp.
Company Name: Animoca Brands K.K.
Office Address: 3-13-7 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ward, Tokyo, Japan
Representative: Motoki Tani
Business Description: Provision of Web3 platform construction services using blockchain NFT
Established: October 25th, 2021
Homepage: https://www.animocabrands.co.jp
Contact: pr-abkk@animocabrands.com
About Animoca Brands
Animoca Brands, a Deloitte Tech Fast winner and ranked in the Financial Times list of High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2023, is a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification that is working to advance digital property rights and contribute to the establishment of the open metaverse. The company develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products including the REVV token and SAND token; original games including The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes; and products utilizing popular intellectual properties including Disney, WWE, Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, Power Rangers, MotoGP™, and Formula E. It has multiple subsidiaries, including The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Forj, Lympo, Animoca Brands Japan, Grease Monkey Games, Eden Games, Darewise Entertainment, Notre Game, TinyTap, Be Media, PIXELYNX, and WePlay Media. Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 380 Web3 investments, including Colossal, Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas, and others. For more information visit www.animocabrands.com or follow on Twitter or Facebook.
Contact: press@animocabrands.com