Amsterdam-based MetaMundo, a company that enables architects and 3D artists to mint, sell, and license 3D Model NFT collectibles by bringing the metaverse together, announced that it has raised $2.7M (approx €2.39M) in its Seed round of funding.
The metaverse is a hypothesised iteration of the Internet, supporting online 3D virtual environments through conventional personal computing, as well as virtual and augmented reality headsets.
Investors and capital utilisation
The round was led by Animoca Brands, a global figurehead in gamification and blockchain. The round also saw participation from Hypersphere Ventures, Digital Currency Group (DCG), OP Crypto, Metacartel Ventures, Marshland Capital, Own.fund, Polygon Studios, Ascensive Assets, Sfermion, D1 Ventures, Cryptomeria Capital, Red Beard Ventures, and Metacollective.
Many angel investors, including the founder(s) of AAVE, Rarible, WilderWorld, Nifty Island, Property’s Digital Ventures, and MetaPortal, also invested in the round.
Yat Siu, the executive chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands, says, “Interoperability is an essential feature of the open metaverse. MetaMundo is creating a network of 3D creators and tools that make it possible to build the multiple emerging open metaverse environments that we envision as the future of digital experience.”
MetaMundo says the proceeds from this round will be used to launch its marketplace in Q1 2022. The funds will also enable the company to continue optimising and building its suite of conversion tools, and to develop direct integrations with the metaverses and game builders.
3D NFT Marketplace for Building the Metaverse
Founded in mid-2021 by Mark Studholme and Finn Hansen, MetaMundo provides 3D creators a platform where they can mint their 3D assets as NFTs and sell, auction or license them to collectors and game builders. The platform ensures 3D NFTs are interoperable across the metaverse.
The company claims to empower 3D creators and collectors to build an open metaverse with unique, high-quality, and imaginative objects, including avatars, wearables, vehicles, and buildings. Creators can use open metaverses and VR/AR applications including Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, Somnium Space, and Spatial.
Hansen says, “One of the problems for metaverse users today is that they can’t easily use their 3D assets across different virtual environments. In part, this is due to the disparity in supported format and attributes like file type, size and mesh count. We’re focused on solving this lack of interoperability by automating the conversion process to mint 3D assets that are metaverse-ready from day one.”
Using a suite of 3D model conversion tools, the platform takes an original 3D file from the creator and optimises it for each metaverse. The collection of optimised files is then minted as one NFT, enabling ownership of one asset for any metaverse. MetaMundo also optimises these files to ensure they work with each new environment.
The company says its technology solves two key issues for metaverse builders. The first is easy accessibility to 3D content that allows them to build worlds. The second is the interoperability of these assets across games and different environments.
Carbon Neutral
MetaMundo is built on Polygon, the eco-friendly blockchain, meaning the minting and selling of assets will have very low gas fees compared to Ethereum, and will use 99.5 per cent less energy.
It also means the assets will be interoperable across Polygon-based metaverses such as Decentraland and Somnium Space. MetaMundo will offset any carbon emissions made from transactions on Polygon.
The assets made available on MetaMundo are premium collectibles. Initially, the categories will include NFT art galleries, DJ venues, shops, bars, homes, and interactive buildings.
01
From port to startup fort: How Lars Crama is ‘Making it Happen’ in Rotterdam