Table of Contents
Two Animoca startups Forkast.News and CryptoSlam are merging to form a crypto media platform called Forkast Labs.
The new service will provide industry news as well as "data indices, APIs, and business intelligence products to measure the digital economy based on real-time on-chain data," according to Forkast Labs.
A universal methodology will be created by the startup to help investors evaluate blockchain projects and digital assets.
Forkast.News founder Angie Lau said the merger comes at a "pivotal moment for the crypto industry" that has "been valued against volatile price movements."
"For the past five years, CryptoSlam and Forkast have been identifying the value, fundamentals, and utility of blockchain, with CryptoSlam... by bringing these two teams together, we can set a new standard of data transparency for our industry,” she added.
Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu introduced Sarah Chang, co-founder of Forkast and Randy Wasing founder to each other and inspired discussions between them.
“This industry is very unstable and rocky,” Siu said. “People have to be able to weather these storms together.”
Animoca led a $9 million seed round for CryptoSlam a year ago and participated in a $1.7 million capital raise for Forkast.News in 2021.
The deal comes at a time when Animcoa is doubling down on investments amid crypto winter.
In Davos, Siu revealed Animoca is aiming to grow its portfolio of companies by 30% by the end of the year.
"We are actually kind of double downing in terms of investing, not just because deals are perhaps better, valuations have come down and also companies are more realistic," he said at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos.
Read more: Animoca Targets US$1B Fund Raise Amid Bear Market
"It's entirely possible that we will exceed 500-600 companies, I hope to get to 500, 500-plus by the end of the year," he said.
Earlier this year, Siu said Animoca is looking raise US$1 billion for its metaverse investing fund in Q1 of this year.
