Avalanche gains Animoca Brands backing in push across Asia and the Middle East

Animoca Brands has made a strategic investment in Ava Labs and entered a partnership aimed at accelerating growth across the Avalanche ecosystem, with an initial focus on entertainment, real-world assets, and digital identity.

The companies said the collaboration will center on capital deployment, product integrations, and strategic advisory support for projects building on Avalanche.

The partnership will initially target Asia and the Middle East, where Animoca has been building regional infrastructure and institutional ties. Animoca opened its first Middle East office in Dubai in April 2025 and said at the time it wanted to support the growing wave of Web3 organizations entering the region. It later secured a VASP licence from Dubai’s VARA in February 2026, allowing it to provide broker-dealer and investment services for global institutional and qualified investors from Dubai.

For Avalanche, the deal adds another piece to its broader institutional expansion strategy. Ava Labs has recently highlighted partnerships in the Middle East tied to remittances, payments, embedded finance, loyalty infrastructure, and tokenized assets, including work with LuLu Financial and other regional players. Ava Labs has framed the region as a major opportunity for regulated, large-scale blockchain adoption.

The new partnership appears designed to combine Avalanche’s technical stack with Animoca’s distribution and advisory network. Animoca said Avalanche projects will be able to tap its commercial relationships as they pursue deployment, while Ava Labs said the goal is to improve user access and interoperability for applications building on Avalanche.

Animoca’s role also reflects how the company has evolved beyond gaming investments into a broader institutional and advisory player. The company says it has a portfolio of more than 600 companies and digital assets and now operates across digital asset services, tokenization, and investment management. That makes it a useful partner for Avalanche projects trying to move from ecosystem visibility to actual commercial rollout.

The announcement did not disclose the size of Animoca’s investment in Ava Labs or any capital commitments tied to the initiative. Still, the focus on RWAs, digital identity, and regional expansion suggests both firms are aiming at sectors where institutional demand and regulatory engagement are already picking up.

Avalanche’s native token AVAX was last trading about 2.3% lower on the day near $9.46, and remains down roughly 23% year to date, reflecting broader weakness across crypto markets.