Animoca Brands Invests in Monopoly Game Upland

The virtual real-estate game Upland has raised $18 million at a $300 million valuation through an investment round led by Animoca Brands. Upland wants to use the funding to speed-up their roadmap and deliver new features a lot faster. They also want to bring more corporations into the virtual world of Upland.

Animoca Brands itself recently raised $138 million in funding to grow their footprint in the wider blockchain gaming space, and investing in Upland is clearly a good move. Upland has been one of the leading gaming dapps for quite some time, even though they operate on the less popular EOS blockchain.

Upland has been growing its user base very organically, starting with a few thousand at the beginning of this year. However, in recent weeks the game attracts more than 34 thousand users per day according to data from DappRadar.

For those who are not familiar with Upland, you can see the game as Monopoly with NFTs. But it's a lot more than that. Players can develop their virtual land now, and there are competitive events where players need to conquer territory. Inside the game world players use UPX to trade or mint new NFTs.

Players can sell their UPX for dollars once they are verified, but the token can't be traded on crypto exchanges. In short, Upland offers NFTs but no real crypto token. This ensures that Upland meets all regulatory requirements.

What is Upland?

Upland is a Monopoly-inspired EOS blockchain game in which players buy and own digital versions of real-world properties. Players buy virtual property using in-game tokens (UPX), which they can also earn in the game itself.

The game world of Upland uses real world maps. Players start in San Francisco or Fresno and can travel to other cities, including New York, Oakland, and Chicago. They earn income from owning and trading virtual properties, completing signature collections, and participating in treasure hunts and other live events. Each property in Upland is based on real-world boundaries and is represented by a non-fungible token on the EOS blockchain.

Upland allows players to create virtual businesses. In addition, players can work together to build and upgrade their properties. Upland runs in a browser and is accessible on most devices.