Animoca Brands hires Gemini finance head as CFO, bulks out exec team

Software and crypto funding heavyweight Animoca Brands announced a new group of top-level executives on Thursday, with the appointment of a new chief financial officer, head of legal for commercial and M&A and group human resources director.

Gemini’s former head of finance Jared Shaw will join as the firm’s CFO. He had been in the role at Gemini since January 2021, according to his LinkedIn page. 

Shaw will “oversee and support the strategic financial direction of Animoca Brands and its more than 380 portfolio companies,” according to a release. 

“Jared has a wealth of experience spanning audit, asset management, crypto, and more. He joins us at a time when the finance team is growing rapidly and building strong capabilities,” added Evan Auyang, president of Animoca Brands.

Shaw joins alongside May Szeto, group HR director; former Meridian Capital general counsel Jamii Quoc as the head of legal for commercial and M&A; and former Ant Group employee Samuel Tse as M&A director. Josh Du also joins as the head of digital assets portfolio. 

The move to hire a new CFO and build out its executive suite comes following a funding round of $110 million, with backing from Temasek, Boyu Capital and CGV Capital. Animoca hinted at the time that it is looking to ready itself for an initial public offering. 

The latest $110 million in backing brings Animoca Brands’ total funding to date to over $600 million. Its subsidiary, The Sandbox, has also separately raised $93 million recently.

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