Investors are not slowing down in betting on the growth of the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market. Immutable, an Australian NFT startup, has completed a series C funding round in which it raised $200 million to reach a valuation of $2.5 billion.
Immutable X (IMX) token surges as startup announces funding round
Immutable announced today via Twitter that the funding round was led by Singapore headquartered Temasek. Other investors included Mirae Asset, ParaFi Capital, Declaration Partners, Tencent Holdings among others, Immutable said.
The fund will be used to push for global expansion of the start-up, the announcement noted. Robbie Ferguson, co-founder and president of Immutable, noted that it would pursue the goal of global expansion through mergers and acquisitions.
We’re excited to raise this capital so we can help deploy it aggressively through M&A opportunities, Ferguson asserted.
Immutable also plans to greatly increase its staff strength massively. On the lookout for “the best talent globally,” Immutable plans to hire over 200 new employees in 2022.
Other areas of focus with the funding are meeting the increasing demand for Immutable X, its NFT marketplace that is hosted as an L2 platform on the Ethereum blockchain.
Immutable also plans to improve its current games – God’s Unchained and Guild of Guardians. Immutable raised $60 million in its last funding.
The announcement has coincided with a significant surge in the price of Immutable X token (IMX), the native token of Immutable’s NFT marketplace. Per data from CryptoRank, IMX is up 27.40% in the last 24 hours, trading at around $1.52.
Immutable has been busy in the last few months, clinching multiple partnerships. Last month, the startup announced a partnership with GameStop. The deal will see Immutable X power GameStop’s NFT that is under development. GameStop and Immutable also announced a $100 million developer fund as part of the package.
Similarly, it has reached agreements with social video app TikTok, as well as upcoming game Ember Sword.
NFT market growth slows down
The NFT market saw massive interest in the first two months of the year, with January setting new records of sales volume for OpenSea. However, market indications are that interest has died down considerably.
Recent Google Trends data shows that searches for NFTs and the metaverse have fallen sharply. However, the NFT market still has an impressive valuation of over $10 billion.
