Saudi Neom Partners with Animoca Brands, To Invest $50 Mln

Animoca Brands, a leading developer of Web3 games, announced a new partnership with the NEOM Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia to bolster Web3 development in the region.

This partnership involves Animoca working with NEOM to create Web3 enterprise service capabilities. The partnership’s goal is to adopt these services globally, but these services will be firstly used to support the development of emerging technologies in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and the NEOM region.

NEOM is a region in northwestern Saudi Arabia being developed into a “living laboratory” for a new future society. The region is predicted to further witness the development of emerging technologies and become a hub for innovation.

The Animoca partnership plans to establish a hub within NEOM to support the local Web3 ecosystem. It is a part of Saudi’s greater “Saudi Vision 2030” plan for increased diversification economically, socially, and culturally.

CEO of NEOM Investment Fund Majid Mufti said: “Web3 technology and infrastructure development will not only be an important foundation of NEOM’s tech stack and architecture but also has the potential to revolutionize global industries.”

The NEOM Investment Fund intends to pump investments worth $50 million into Animoca Brands.

Meanwhile, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands Yat Siu shared his vision for the Web3 ecosystem, hailing it as the emergence of a new meta-nation. He also expressed his happiness about the new partnership with NEOM, which could make it the first region to fully deploy the power of blockchain.

It is worth noting that the Middle East region has been increasingly approaching emerging technologies over the past years.

Saudi Arabia, including its NEOM project, announced its partnership with universities in China to create an Arabic-based AI system that can process queries in its local language.

In October, OpenAI, the developer of the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, partnered with G42, a Dubai-based technology holding group, to enhance AI-based technologies in the Middle East.