prophecya crypto tech and gaming startup, has secured $54 million in Series A funding to support its expansion into the metaverse space.
The funding round was led by venture capital firm 10T Holdingswith the participation of ripple labsproducer of xrp ledgerthe company said in a recent press release.
Futureverse said it plans to use the funds for research and development purposes, as well as furthering its gaming-focused blockchain called The Root Network.
Root Network is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine and includes XRP Ledger integration, which allows users to spend XRP and its non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Additionally, Futureverse has plans to develop more blockchain games in the future.
“The Metaverse has the potential to transform the way humans engage and collaborate with each other and improve our experiences across gaming, payments, asset management and many other areas,” Futureverse co-founders Aaron McDonald and Shara Sendroff said in a statement.
Futurevese is a platform of 11 companies, including gaming studios and entities that range from enabling Web 3 payments to blockchain startups, to provide brands and builders with tools to more easily create content for the metaverse.
The company was formed in late 2022 through the merger of eight companies and has since absorbed three more companies.
Futureways aims to merge AI and blockchain technology
The overarching goal of Futureverse is to combine artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology to establish the necessary infrastructure for a seamless Metaverse experience.
Futureverse has already launched two sports-related games.
In April, they released World Cup AI League, a mobile soccer game for Android and iOS that features AI-driven gameplay.
Although the game does not feature real-life soccer stars, it features colorful and cartoon characters whose movements are controlled by AI.
In addition, Futureverse teamed up with the estate of late boxer Muhammad Ali to create Muhammad Ali: The Next Legends, an AI game that uses NFTs.
Players act as coaches, making strategic decisions for their boxers. Each Boxer NFT must be paired with an “AI Brain” NFT to determine their behavior.
Meanwhile, the recent funding comes amid growing skepticism towards the concept of the metaverse, which was heavily hyped over the past few years.
However, Ripple Labs President Monica Long said she still believes in Futureverse’s vision.
“While we are in the very early stages of what a project like this – and indeed the larger concept of the metaverse – can achieve, we are thrilled to contribute the underlying infrastructure layer to Ripple and provide real utility to end users of the open metaverse,” Long said in a statement.
The metaverse has been the subject of intense debate in the tech world, especially since many of the idea’s biggest proponents have recently backed away from their ambitions.
Earlier this year, entertainment giant Disney announced it was eliminating its Metaverse division as part of widespread layoffs that would affect more than 7,000 employees.
moreover, Microsoft it’s turned off Industrial Metaverse Core This year the team, a four-month-old project, aims to encourage the use of the Metaverse in industrial environments.