In 2024, we’re laser-focused on making the metaverse real. Our venture building model is supercharging amazing founders in the metaverse, AI and web3. We give them a head start with pioneering tech, strategic advice and hands-on support, so they can bring their ideas to life.
During the first half of the year, we saw some incredible results: a wave of mind-blowing metaverse experiences connecting people worldwide with their passions. This showcases the power of the venture building model to simultaneously grow diverse businesses and captivate specific audiences.
Also leveraging the amazing work of MSquared and Somnia, these ventures are primed to be part of an accessible metaverse of interoperable virtual worlds, opening up yet more possibilities for ventures and individuals to collaborate, share value, and lay the foundations for a thriving virtual society.
Here are some of the highlights:
January
We threw open the virtual doors to our internal Improbable town hall. This experiment helped us explore tech designed to serve as a platform for businesses, and gave eager attendees a peek behind the scenes of Improbable. And in the consumer space, Improbable Labs unleashed ‘Bulldome’, a massive-multiplayer bulldog experience that showed how the metaverse can shake up how streamers interact with fans, changing the rules as people play.
February
We launched How To Metaverse with CPO Rob Whitehead, an educational series for devs that happens inside the metaverse, and that digs deep into interoperability and AI. Live versions at conferences such as NFT Paris and SEG3 mixed things up with unique presentations that simultaneously occurred in virtual worlds and the real one.
Venture building is great for trying out new metaverse use cases for distinct audiences. This month saw KosmoPop’s launch party for Twice that took K-pop fandom to a new level. Edison’s slam-dunk Hotshots combined sports and gaming in a chaotic court packed with hoops, obstacles and players competing for epic prizes. And Ice Breaker from Improbable Labs tested a new streamer format – a tense elimination battle, with players cocooned in floating bubbles.
We’re also passionate to ignite conversations about the metaverse’s possibilities. So this month, our CEO Herman Narula gave a keynote at Web Summit Qatar on building digital communities and experiences, and The Metaverse Society (supported by Improbable and MSquared) released a meta-trends report on scaling the metaverse, supported by live events in London and Brussels.
March
We initiated Virtual Society Foundation, an independent organisation dedicated to making the metaverse open and fair for everyone. Seeding and growing businesses is core to the venture building model, and so we were thrilled to see the Victory League venture announcing it had raised $4m of seed funding to revolutionise sports fan engagement by giving players and fans new ways to connect. Edison, meanwhile, engaged its own fans by having them round-up NPCs, which were duly beamed up to sketchy UFOs in the fun and frantic NPC Snatchers!
April
Somnia, the first project from Virtual Society Foundation, was announced, leveraging tech from MSquared and Improbable. This Layer 1 EVM blockchain and set of interoperability protocols aims to unify metaverses, gaming, NFTs and social platforms. The ultimate goal: a scalable, unified on-chain virtual society for millions, with a decentralised economy that rewards creators and promotes community-driven governance, rather than value and control being owned by a single company.
May
Yuga Labs returned to Improbable and hosted a metaverse town hall, where it was revealed that the pioneering Otherside metaverse would be built on MSquared, and new creator tools would enable people to collaborate and build on the platform. We got to further nurture our own creator community too, by launching the Content Creator Collective.
Space Race incorporated eye-popping visuals from immersive digital art platform LVCIDIA into a week-long zero-g time trial competition that hinted at Edison’s always-on future. And AleXa’s KosmoPop event combined a virtual listening party with fundraising for Doctors Without Borders.
June
Another busy month for The Metaverse Society. A landmark report – supported by a panel at SEG3 and a live event in London – explored the opportunities AI presents for content creation and the metaverse, in allowing projects to scale and reduce friction, lowering barriers to entry, and accelerating and augmenting – rather than replacing – human creativity.
Signing off H1, Edison brought back its signature basketball chaos with Cityshots, a week-long ‘basketbrawl’ free-for-all in the heart of Edison City.