{"id":13707,"date":"2022-08-23T21:24:30","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T21:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/metaverse-startup-ready-player-me-raises-56-million-in-series-b-led-by-andreessen-horowitz-metaverse-bitcoin-news\/"},"modified":"2022-08-23T21:24:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T21:24:30","slug":"metaverse-startup-ready-player-me-raises-56-million-in-series-b-led-by-andreessen-horowitz-metaverse-bitcoin-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/metaverse-startup-ready-player-me-raises-56-million-in-series-b-led-by-andreessen-horowitz-metaverse-bitcoin-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Metaverse Startup Ready Player Me Raises $56 Million in Series B Led by Andreessen Horowitz \u2013 Metaverse Bitcoin News"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b>
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The AI-generated avatar creation cross-platform for the metaverse, Ready Player Me, has raised $56 million in a Series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The startup\u2019s co-founder and CEO Timmu T\u00f5ke says the funding will be used to scale the cross-platform metaverse avatar system.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Investors Inject Ready Player Me With Fresh Capital, CEO Says \u2018Interoperability\u2019 Is the Key to Unlocking the Metaverse<\/h2>\n

On Tuesday, Ready Player Me<\/a> (RPM), a startup that issues 3D avatars to be leveraged in the metaverse, announced that the firm has raised $56 million in a Series B funding round. The latest financing follows the company\u2019s Series A announced in December 2021, when the team raised $13 million in a funding round led by Taavet+Sten.<\/p>\n

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The Series B financing for $56 million was led by a16z, and other participants include Roblox co-founder David Baszucki, King Games co-founders Sebastian Knutsson and Riccardo Zacconi, Hartbeat Ventures, Punk6529, D\u2019Amelio family, Snowfro, Collab Currency, Plural, and Konvoy Ventures. Twitch co-founder Justin Kan also participated in the RPM Series B. RPM CEO Timmu T\u00f5ke believes that cross-platform connectivity will be the key to unlocking the metaverse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat will unlock the true metaverse experience is interoperability between games, worlds, and applications and a consistent identity for users across all experiences,\u201d T\u00f5ke said on Tuesday. \u201cWe think it\u2019s essential for virtual worlds users to create an avatar they love and buy avatar skins and accessories that work across the metaverse and are not stuck in one game. The RPM executive added:<\/p>\n

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This infusion of funds will allow Ready Player Me to continue scaling the avatar system to make it more flexible for developers, create new tools to help developers monetize with avatar assets, and build tools for individual creators to take part of the cross-game avatar marketplace.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ready Player Me Inks Deals With Prominent Players, While Popular Brands and Corporate Giants Seek to Capitalize on the Metaverse Concept<\/h2>\n

RPM has already formed partnerships with well known companies which include firms like Adidas<\/a>, Warner Brothers, Pull&Bear, and Dior. The startup is also working with Hiber, Mzaalo, the Nemesis platform, 8th Wall, and Pixelynx. RPM has also completed custom avatar infrastructure for corporate giants such as HTC, Verizon, Tencent, and Wargaming. Jonathan Lai, a general partner at a16z, said the investment company was \u201cimpressed by the team\u201d and noted that a16z looks forward to working with RPM.<\/p>\n

\u201cReady 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,\u201d Lai explained during the announcement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

RPM\u2019s financing follows a significant influx of popular brands and companies seeking to capitalize on the metaverse concept. This week the fund manager with $1.4 billion in assets under management (AUM), Invesco, launched<\/a> a metaverse fund. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is building<\/a> a metaverse campus, and the University of Tokyo is offering<\/a> engineering courses dedicated to metaverse technology.<\/p>\n

During the second week of August, reports had shown Samsung signed<\/a> a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a number of metaverse startups. However, the metaverse has been criticized a great deal as well, as the concept has received flak from luminaries like the billionaire investor Mark Cuban<\/a> and Ethereum\u2019s co-founder Vitalik Buterin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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3D Avatars<\/a>, 3D worlds<\/a>, avatars<\/a>, Blockchain<\/a>, cross-platform<\/a>, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology<\/a>, interoperability<\/a>, Invesco<\/a>, Meta<\/a>, Meta Worlds<\/a>, metaverse avatar system<\/a>, Metaverse Gaming<\/a>, metaverse technology<\/a>, Metaverse Worlds<\/a>, nft<\/a>, NFTs<\/a>, Ready Player Me<\/a>, readyplayer.me<\/a>, RPM<\/a>, Samsung<\/a>, Timmu T\u00f5ke<\/a>, university of tokyo<\/a>, Virtual Worlds<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What do you think about Ready Player Me raising $56 million from a16z and other strategic investors? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

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\nJamie Redman <\/h6>\n

\nJamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,700 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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Image Credits<\/b>: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

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