The metaverse is being actively shaped by major technology corporations like Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple, and Alphabet, among others. Case in point, is the renaming of Facebook to Meta besides, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Nvidia’s Omniverse, Sony’s plans to release of the PlayStation VR2 headset later this year, and the potential for Apple to enter the AR market in 2023, according to Mckinsey and Company.
So how aggressively does venture capital invest? The Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) marketplace OpenSea raised $300 million at a $13.3 billion value in a series-C fundraising led by Paradigm and Coatue, demonstrating the significant amount of venture capital invested in the sector. A $150 million funding round for a metaverse technology business was led by Andreessen Horowitz and SoftBank. Further, in order to create a virtual environment, Yuga Labs (the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club) obtained $450 million at a valuation of $4 billion, with The Sandbox receiving $93 million from SoftBank and Niantic obtaining $300 million from Coatue.
Businesses and Brands
The number of use cases is growing, and organisations are looking at new strategies to gain an advantage. The metaverse presents growth prospects that leading brands are eager to investigate and exploit. LEGO contributed to Epic Games (makers of Fortnite). Additionally, Balenciaga, a luxury label that has a dedicated metaverse section and launched its most recent collection online, worked with Epic Games.
The value of any metaverse feature (such as owning digital assets) will rise with the number of use cases and consumer offerings, as the metaverse is anticipated to exhibit substantial network and synergy effects.
This means that in order for the metaverse to realise its full value proposition, a fully connected, end-to-end ecosystem must be created. The metaverse, VR, and AR will finally start to provide genuine, observable, and quantifiable productivity increases in the fields of education and healthcare.
