Ready Player Me, a cross-game avatar platform that enables users to explore the metaverse, has closed a $56 million Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Other well-known investors that took part in the round, included Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Ventures, the D’Amelio family, Punk6529, Snowfro, Sebastian Knutsson & Riccardo Zacconi, among others.
As per the release, teams can concentrate on building worlds and experiences because Ready Player Me gives developers an avatar system. The platform also offers distribution through its network and creates new revenue streams through the sale of interoperable avatar assets and a cross-game economy.
Timmu Tõke, co-founder and CEO of the platform believes that with the additional funding, Ready Player Me will be able to scale the avatar system to give developers more flexibility, develop new tools to aid developers in making money from avatar assets, and develop tools for individual creators to participate in the cross-game avatar marketplace.
The co-founder also added, “What will unlock the true metaverse experience is interoperability between games, worlds, and applications and a consistent identity for users across all experiences,”
Meanwhile, Jonathan Lai, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz noted, “Ready Player Me is loved by both developers and players as the largest platform for avatar-systems-as-a-service and is well on their way to building the interoperable identity protocol for the open Metaverse,”
Acceleration in the global metaverse market
Ready Player Me’s funding also comes soon after Meta’s Horizon Worlds metaverse game came under fire for its rudimentary visuals after the debut. And with increasing competition in the space, the US Patent and Trademark Office has also registered Miley Cyrus’ name to enable her to use her trademark in blockchain and metaverse-related projects.
This week, Invesco, a global investment management company, also introduced its Metaverse Fund to foray into the sector.
According to a recent study, the use of metaverse in the gaming industry has increased especially after the coronavirus outbreak. The Grand View Research, Inc. report projects that by 2030, the global metaverse market will have reached a value of $678.8 billion. That said, the market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 39.4% over the course of the forecast period.
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Source: https://beincrypto.com/metaverse-platform-ready-player-me-closes-56-m-round/