UK’s Hadean bags €30M from Molten Ventures, Epic Games, others to build metaverse infrastructure

London-based Hadean, a deeptech start, announced on Friday that it has secured $30M (approximately €30M) in a Series A round of funding led by Molten Ventures. Other investors in the round include Epic Games, 2050 Capital, Alumni Ventures, Aster Capital, Entrepreneur First, and InQTel.

Hadean says it will use the funds to build its scalable, interoperable, and secure metaverse capabilities. The company will also use the capital to give creators the tools necessary in new emerging metaverse markets to change every aspect of how users work, build, buy, and consume.

“Hadean’s computing power will provide the infrastructure needed as we work to create a scalable metaverse,” says Marc Petit, VP of Epic’s Unreal Engine Ecosystem. “The company’s technology complements Epic’s Unreal Engine by enabling massive amounts of concurrent users and unlocking new tools for creators and developers. We are pleased to contribute to Hadean’s growth and look forward to continuing to work together to lay the foundation for the metaverse.”

Hadean: What you need to know

Founded by Craig Beddis, Aidan Hobson-Sayers and Mimi Keshani in 2015, Hadean has developed a metaverse infrastructure that enables designers and developers to create interoperable and secure immersive 3D environments without worrying about current server limitations such as poor AI, limited concurrent players, and slowing down gameplay.

Craig Beddis, Co-Founder and CEO of Hadean, says, “Hadean’s mission is to bridge physical and virtual worlds – to help us make better decisions and ultimately improve the quality of our lives in the physical world. Today’s virtual worlds are a limited experience – small scale, siloed, and insecure. Hence why these are the technical challenges, we’re tackling today. But we believe the true success and mass adoption of the metaverse will rely on the ease by which creators can build their own experiences at scale, leveraging open and robust metaverse-as-a-service technologies. We’re delighted to work with industry leaders like Epic Games, who share our ethos and ambition for this reality.”

To demonstrate this, the compant collaborated with EVE Online maker CCP Games to break their record for the most number of players in a single sharded world with a 14,000-player dog fight in space, live at the 2019 Game Developers Conference.

The company’s mission is to develop an open, decentralised, and accessible metaverse where creators have the tools to build and expand virtual worlds, while users enjoy new social experiences. 

Hadean has signed multi-year agreements in entertainment with Minecraft, Pixelynx, Sony, and Gamescoin, as well as with education and enterprise digital twin providers. 

Investor

Molten Ventures is one of Europe’s most active venture capital firms, developing and investing in disruptive, high-growth technology companies. Recently, the VC has backed UK-based FocalPoint, a company that develops next-generation navigation and positioning software for smartphones in a £23M (approximately €26.48M) Series C round of funding.

David Cummings, Venture Partner at Molten, says, “Molten has been a part of Hadean’s journey since early 2019. Since then, we have seen the Hadean team deliver ambitious technical milestones, build an impressive customer base across several sectors and continue attracting dynamic talent. It is a pleasure to continue supporting Hadean as it grows.”