NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Spatial, the former AR/VR collaboration platform, today announced a significant company evolution to become the metaverse for cultural events such as NFT exhibitions, brand experiences, and conferences. It is a metaverse for artists and creators, whether on web, mobile, or VR. Spatial also announced $25 million in new funding as part of its growth financing plans, to help build an immersive and social way to experience NFTs in the metaverse. Investors in the round included Pine Venture Partners, Maven Growth Partners, Korea Investment Partners, KB Investment, Mirae Asset, Balaji Srinvasan, with participation from existing investors iNovia, Whitestar and Lerer Hippeau. This brings the total raised to $50 million. The funds will be used to accelerate the company’s vision to become a 3D hub that links NFT creators to their communities and collectors - poised to build the first open and free metaverse for creators.
Spatial has seen a huge surge in popularity of its non-headset product offerings with 80 percent of current users accessing Spatial via web and mobile - this compares to 80 percent via headset last year. A vast majority of these users are NFT creators, artists and collectors, looking to build, share and meet up in immersive environments that go far beyond what can be accomplished on 2D platforms.
“User feedback has always been at the heart of our product strategy but over the last year since we launched our freemium version across any platform, we’ve witnessed a fascinating shift occurring,” noted Jacob Loewenstein, Head of Business at Spatial. “We've gone from an AR/VR platform focused on enterprise productivity to a web/VR platform linking digital creators and the broader NFT economy. Why? Because the metaverse will be far beyond a meeting space. We’re witnessing this trend in the creator economy from the inside and can see the huge opportunity as power moves into the hands of these creators. Moving web-first also breaks down all the barriers to entry to the metaverse today. We believe in an inclusive and open metaverse where one day artists and creators can move freely across multiple virtual platforms with interoperable portals, avatars and shared spaces.”
Where Spatial stands apart is its reach and accessibility; a metaverse available for anyone to experience for free on web, mobile, and VR. It offers the easiest way to meet in beautifully designed spaces and curate a gallery or host events in just one click - no coding needed, simply upload content and build your space in under a minute. Spatial will begin offering limited edition, purpose-built NFT environments for creators and collectors who want to own a piece of the metaverse. The first Spatial NFT Genesis drop will go live starting on December 15th at 5PM EST, curated by Polycount and Reno, in collaboration with Meshed. For drop details visit: mint.spatial.io.
Spatial is working with artists such as Hermitage, NBA, Grammy award winning producer !llmind, Krista Kim, Federico Clapis, Jarlan Perez and many more. They are using the platform for anything from art exhibitions and events, to sports or music influencers selling NFT memorabilia or connecting with fans and collectors in new ways. In the latest version they can also enjoy new shared gathering spaces such as Spatial Park, 2x faster performance and Metamask login. Spatial is committed to building an open, on-chain and interoperable metaverse, supporting decentralized infrastructure including Ethereum wallets, with other blockchains to follow in the near future. It sees a future where you’ll be able to own 3D spaces in an open format that can be freely consumed in other metaverses.
“Since we shifted focus to building the metaverse for creators and artists, we’ve seen four times usage growth in just two months. This new round of funding will speed up our mission to make the internet more immersive, social and fun. It’s extremely rewarding to devote our energy to empowering creative individuals and lead this cultural paradigm shift in how people are sharing experiences with others,” said Jinha Lee, Spatial co-founder and Chief Product Officer.
Additional Quotes:
Ken Kelleher, also known as “Anchorball”, is a solo artist whose work includes monumental scale sculptures, public art projects & private commissions, and has worked on numerous high-profile projects for National Geographic, Google, Netflix and Redbull. "Spatial has allowed me to showcase my work in entirely new ways. Now anyone, anywhere in the world, can quite literally step inside my sculptures, and have a shared experience together. I'm psyched to be building the Anchorball metaverse inside of Spatial!"
“I firmly believe that the most productive, sustainable and purpose-driven NFTs will always be the ones involving a real experience that the community truly cares about,” said Riley Demp, NFT Strategist, Utah Jazz, NBA. “In working with Spatial on the Utah JAZZ XR project, I was moved to see how the metaverse could bring fans from all around the world together in a more intimate way than ever imagined before. There is something unique and special about being able to use the internet like this. If NFTs continue to be sold with the community in mind, experiential NFTs will be adored by buyers for a very long time to come.”
ABOUT SPATIAL
Spatial is the metaverse for culture. Whether on web, mobile, or VR, in Spatial users can customize a virtual space and gather for NFT exhibitions, conferences, lectures, meetups and watch parties. And all it takes is a few clicks to set up your space or join. Spatial was founded in 2016 with the goal of making designing experiences for high quality 3D collaboration easy and accessible. Spatial is equipped with tools and integrations to make setting up your own space a seamless creative process. Contact us: Twitter @spatialxr, Facebook @spatialxr, LinkedIn spatial.systems, Instagram @spatial_io, YouTube @spatial.
