Ready Player Me Secures $56 Million to Expand its Metaverse Avatars
The cross-game metaverse platform has raised $56 million to support its growth. The round was led by a16z and will help Ready Player Me in scaling the avatar system.
Details Of the Fundraising
Ready Player Me has secured a $56 million funding round to scale its avatar system. The New York-based cross-game metaverse platform allows users to explore virtual worlds using a single identity. In addition, the platform is integrated into thousands of apps across both Web2 and Web3, including RTFKT, Somnium Space, and VRChat.
The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and included other companies like Hartbeat VenturesD, Punk6529, Snowfro, Collab Currency, King, Twitch, Roblox, Endeavor, Konvoy ventures, Plural, and Amelio family.
The CEO of Ready Player Me, Timmu Toke, said,
“We’re doing cross-game answers for the metaverse, as we saw that people spend a lot of time in virtual worlds. The metaverse is not one app, or one game or one platform. It’s a network of thousands of different virtual worlds. So, it makes sense for users to have an avatar to traverse across many different virtual worlds.”
In a statement, Jonathan Lai, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz,
“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,”
The fund raised will allow Ready Player Me to build a flexible and equipped system for developers to create new assets for the avatar marketplace.
Ready Player Me Avatar System
The Ready Player Me avatar system is a product of eight years of research and development. Initially, it was custom-built for enterprise customers, but the company developed its system with more than 20,000 face scans using 3D scanners. This system is compatible with mobile, desktop, and web platforms.
Ready Player Me recently joined the Metaverse Forum to build avatars that are readily available in Unity mobile games or Unreal desktop games.
