Invesco Unveils Multi-Million Dollar Metaverse Fund

The Invesco Metaverse Fund was formally introduced on Aug. 22 to a pan-European audience, according to Citywire Selector.

Invesco, a global investment management company, seeks to make investments in large, midsize, and small-cap firms through the fund, the report noted, while expanding investment exposure to the metaverse. The metaverse-focused equity fund aims to include companies across the segment from the regions of the US, Asia, and Europe.

Fund to be benchmarked against global equity index

The performance of the fund will reportedly be compared against the global equity index MSCI ACWI (Net Total Return), which represents about 85% of all investible equity opportunities globally.

Tony Roberts as the fund manager, and James McDermottroe as the deputy fund manager, both of whom work for Invesco’s UK-based Asia & Emerging Markets equities team, will jointly manage the fund. Meanwhile, some media reports estimate the fund size to be around $30 million. However, Be[In]Crypto couldn’t verify the fund size at press time.

By 2030, the market for virtual and augmented reality is expected to be worth £1.4 trillion (around $1.6 trillion), according to Roberts, who cited estimates by auditing giant PwC. He explained to Citywire, “While the metaverse’s applications to entertainment are increasingly well-understood, the interconnectivity that it enables will likely have a transformative impact across industries as diverse as healthcare, logistics, education, and sport,”

Regulators worried as platforms see crypto in the metaverse

Lately, several platforms have been extending their funds to the metaverse. For instance, Qualcomm had announced a $100 million Snapdragon Metaverse Fund, and international investment behemoth Fidelity also announced new products that target the metaverse market, with P2E metaverse meme coin Tamadoge raising $1 million after just 12 days of its beta sale.

However, this fund’s seven core investment sectors, according to Invesco, go beyond well-known segments of the emerging industry. The broad themes include hardware and devices that provide access to the metaverse, blockchain, interchange tools necessary to bring about interoperability, etc.

“We will seek to capitalize on these opportunities through a highly selective, valuation-conscious approach,” the executive added.

Alexander Millar, head of UK distribution at Invesco said, “At Invesco, we will always aim to offer clients best-in-class solutions to help capture exciting opportunities – and the Metaverse is certainly one of these.”

That said, researchers from the Bank of England believe that the widespread use of cryptocurrencies in a fully formed metaverse could be a systemic risk to financial stability.

Be[In]Crypto previously quoted researchers Owen Lock and Teresa Cascino stating, “An important step is therefore for regulators to address risks from cryptoassets use in the metaverse before they reach systemic status.”

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