Ready Player Me has raised $56 Million in Series B financing led by Andreessen Horowitz. The startup’s co-founder and CEO Timmu Tõke says the funding will be used to scale the cross-platform metaverse avatar system.
Investors Inject Ready Player Me With Fresh Capital, CEO Says ‘Interoperability’ Is the Key to Unlocking the Metaverse
Ready Player Me (RPM), which issues 3D avatars that can be used in the metaverse, revealed Tuesday that it had raised $56 Million in Series B financing. The latest financing follows the company’s Series A announced in December 2021, when the team raised $13 million in a funding round led by Taavet+Sten.
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’Amelio family, Snowfro, Collab Currency, Plural, and Konvoy Ventures. Twitch co-founder Justin Kan also participated in the RPM Series B. RPM CEO Timmu Tõke believes that cross-platform connectivity will be the key to unlocking the metaverse.
“What will unlock the true metaverse experience is interoperability between games, worlds, and applications and a consistent identity for users across all experiences,” Tõke said on Tuesday. “We think it’s 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. RPM’s executive said:
Ready Player Me will use this money to expand the avatar system, make it easier for developers to monetize avatar assets and create tools that allow individual creators to participate in the cross-game avatar marketplace.
Pre-Positive Player Me Inks deals with prominent players, while popular brands and corporate giants seek to capitalize on the Metaverse Concept
RPM has already formed partnerships with well known companies which include firms like Adidas, Warner Brothers, Pull&Bear, and Dior. Hiber and Mzaalo are among the startups that RPM is currently working with. RPM also built custom avatar infrastructures for corporations such as Wargaming, Tencent and Verizon. Jonathan Lai, a general partner at a16z, said the investment company was “impressed by the team” and noted that a16z looks forward to working with RPM.
“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,” Lai explained during the announcement on Tuesday.
RPM’s financing follows a significant influx of popular brands and companies seeking to capitalize on the metaverse concept. Invesco, a fund manager managing $1.4 billion of assets under management (AUM), launched a metaverse fund this week. A metaverse campus is being built by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The University of Tokyo also offers courses on engineering related to metaverse technology.
According to reports, Samsung had signed an MOU with many metaverse startups during the second week. 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 and Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
Ready Player Me’s raising of $56 million by a16z, strategic investors. Please comment below to let us know your thoughts on this topic.
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