Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd (ASX:AB1) has entered into a strategic partnership with artificial intelligence incubator DEEPCORE, owned by global technology player SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984).
Animoca entered the partnership via its wholly owned subsidiary Zeroth, which it recently acquired boosting its exposure to industry-leading AI (artificial intelligence) and blockchain startups.
Zeroth is one of the world’s first AI accelerators focused on frontier technologies like AI and machine learning.
READ: Animoca Brands increases revenue amid key acquisitions
SoftBank owned DEEPCORE Inc. is focused on advancing AI and unleashing the potential of technology visionaries.
As part of the partnership, Zeroth and DEEPCORE will collaborate to share deal flow, expertise and information for technology investments in Asian markets, bring their respective communities together, and back the growth of the AI founder community over the next few years.
DEEPCORE operates the AI-focused incubation community “KERNEL HONGO” for AI engineers and researchers in Tokyo.
It also operates a venture capital (VC) fund, which invests in seed and early-stage AI startups.
READ: Animoca Brands participates in Series A financing for CryptoKitties developer
Animoca recently participated in a Series A financing into Dapper Labs Inc., the company behind the world's first and most successful consumer blockchain product, CryptoKitties.
The round, totalling US$15 million, was led by Venrock, with participation from GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Samsung NEXT, among others.
Animoca Brands is the exclusive mobile distributor of CryptoKitties in Greater China and receives a share of revenue generated in the region.
Additionally, the company negotiated a license for multinational consumer electronics company HTC to publish and promote CryptoKitties on HTC phones, including HTC’s U12+ flagship mobile device.