$16M funding sets RACA’s web3 gaming in motion

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The Future, today. In just 3 minutes.

1/ DWF Labs invests $16M in RACA to spur web3 gaming ecosystem

Web3 company RACA gets fresh capital injection from investment firm DWF Labs, a deal that involves a $16M investment alongside purchasing an unspecified amount of RACA tokens. The funding is set to help realize ambitions of RACA, founded in 2021 formerly as Radio Caca, as a web3 gaming ecosystem to reckon with.

RACA started out managing NFTs from Maye Musk, so far evolving from managing the NFT collection of Elon Musk’s mom to a Steam-like blockchain gaming ecosystem.

Some titles to its name: an R3 game infra, SimCity-esque sandbox game USM.WORLD, social party game Looki Looki Jazzi, cross-game DID wallet JAZ, and an NFT marketplace.

DWF Labs, on the other hand, remains actively investing amid the crypto bear market, recently providing a $20M fundraise to derivatives trading platform Synthetix and a $40M raise for AI-driven crypto protocol Fetch.ai.

2/ OpenSea rebrands NFT aggregator Gem to OpenSea Pro

OpenSea unveils the “polishing” of its NFT aggregator Gem V2 as OpenSea Pro, which it dubs as the fastest and most powerful NFT marketplace aggregator today. A few key details to know:

• The platform expands its offerings to pro collectors and has been upgraded from Gem’s previous designs to roll out a large, more reliable suite of features to help collectors choose from across 170 NFT marketplaces.

• OpenSea Pro’s array of automation and analysis tools comprises live cross-marketplace data and advanced order capabilities, giving users more control over their purchases, trait collection offers, and listings.

• It provides powerful inventory management, instant sales, optimized gas fees, and mobile compatibility, alongside user experience-enhancing new features such as watchlist, live mints overview, and batch transfer.

OpenSea was built to serve super fans, avid collectors, and crypto newcomers alike, while OpenSea Pro primarily zeroes in on the power user community, tailoring interfaces, features, and fee structures to the needs of this distinct group.

3/ OCBC steps into metaverse, first Singapore bank to offer virtual banking experience

In the continuing trend of appealing to younger audiences drawn to web3 and virtual experiences, Singapore’s OCBC Bank officially steps into the metaverse with OCBCx65Chulia.

What to know about this metaverse platform:

• Occupying 9 plots of virtual land and is open for free to the public, including non-OCBC customers, OCBCx65Chulia can be accessed through Decentraland to let users learn more about the bank’s latest products and services.

• Housed in a red sphere inspired by OCBC’s logo, it offers a virtual banking lobby and heritage museum, as well as a variety of games OCBC plans to roll out later this year.

• It gives users quick access to the bank’s website, enabling them to open a bank account, apply for a credit card, or tap into other bank services.

For OCBC, while “many have doubted the purpose of the metaverse,” it’s still “one of the newer ways to make a connection.”

4/ The future of e-commerce is in 3D, web3 and AI

Your e-commerce website might be selling products in 2D, yet the future (and actually the present) says that it’s high time to create 3D images of your e-commerce items on desktop and mobile, on store sites, and on Google search.

Cue content management systems for 3D marketing such as VNTANA, which boasts clients like Hugo Boss and Merrell and can provide the following outcomes:

• Allows shoppers to get a 360-degree, 3D view of footwear. Clothing’s draping nature makes it difficult and expensive to represent right now, and the “physics of fabric in digital is still being figured out.”

• Features AR through a QR code that, when activated on a smartphone, allows the shopper to project the object onto a flat surface in 3D.

• 3D footwear presentations online that yield a 6% increase in conversion rates as well as 40% reduced item returns.

🏃‍♂️ Quick Hits

🎮 Gaming

• District 9 director Neill Blomkamp is launching a web3 game, with a dedicated avalanche subnet. (Link)

• Actimel rolls out on Fortnite, giving players who visit the brand’s Immunity Station an in-game edge. (Link)

• In game dev’t, a sense of community and shared experiences are top draws for some 3.2B gamers - or 40% of the world's population. (Link)

• On its metaverse debut, SG bank OCBC is convinced many of its younger customers are enticed by gaming. (Link)

• “With blockchain technology, our games can one day live on forever.” - Joonmo Kwon, ex-Nexon, current Delabs Games CEO. (Link)

🕶 Fashion

• What to expect at the first AI Fashion Week. (Link)

• CULT&RAIN’s latest drop Drop 2: Virgo Hoodie reflects the changing meta or trends within web3 fashion. (Link)

• Salsa, which allows users to meet and chat using their wallet, will be joining the 9dcc NYC Treasure Hunt on April 12-14. (Link)

• Is there a future for Digital Product Passports in the fashion and luxury industry? (Link)

• “We are connecting our inner child to the avatar…the very act of choosing what our avatar will look like is almost an act of radical self-realization.” - metaverse artist and founder Krista Kim (Link)

• After years of hype, is the metaverse still actually relevant for brands? (Link)

🏀 Sports

• NY-based Algorand Drone Racing League just might become the 1st sport to stream in the metaverse. (Link)

• Can AI make the best FIFA ultimate team squad possible? (Link)

• Web3 football metaverse TOPGOAL scores big from DWF Labs to build a fresh, immersive sports experience. (Link)

• In India, fantasy sports gaming will enjoy a boost from tier 2 cities as driven by rising adoption of fantasy platforms and cross-migration of users from other games. (Link)

• Game of Silks wants to broaden horse racing's appeal to new demographics by injecting a fantasy football-sized boost. (Link)

🎥 Media & Entertainment

• Meta unveils an AI-powered tool to let brands target Facebook and Instagram users. (Link)

• We’re still processing the fact that Disney is escaping the metaverse “black hole.” (Link)

• At MFW 2023, BAYC DJ Duo plays its new record with Dillon Francis while Avatar rapper Lil Bitcoin grooves with the audience. (Link)

• Digital collectibles and music company FanMax spotlights future music and web3 partnerships. (Link)

• Isabel LaRosa gets up close and personal with fans in the metaverse by chatting it up in iHeartLand on Roblox. (Link)

• XR Fest NewImages: A feast of VR games and docus, mixed media installations, and AR works for social media. (Link)

🖼 Art

• BLOND:ISH & Evolution Music launch eco-friendly biodegradable vinyl - the release also includes an NFT collectible via sound.xyz. (Link)

• OpenSea upgrades Gem to Pro, now offering enhanced NFT services. (Link)

• Simon Denny's Metaverse Landscapes explores the link between abstract art, colonial painting, NFT ownership, and digital scarcity. (Link)

• No, NFTs aren’t just collectibles. (Link)

• STAMPS protocol offers a novel approach to embedding image data into Bitcoin blockchain different from Ordinals. (Link)

🤖 AI

• “Describe the shirt”: An AI-based app enhances independence for blind users. (Link)

• Meta unveils an AI model that recognizes objects in images. (Link)

• AI and VR on unlocking engagement and productivity. (Link)

• AI automation could disrupt 300M global jobs, Goldman Sachs predicts. (Link)

• AI helps responders mine social media for public safety insights. (Link)

• Experts: Implement major AI changes or face extinction. (Link)

💸 Funding & Partnerships

• Games & esports firm Savvy Games Group, part of the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund, acquires mobile games studio Scopely for $4.9B. (Link)

• M^ZERO, a decentralized infrastructure layer for digital asset value transfer, emerges from stealth mode with a $22.5M seed round to advance DeFi. (Link)

• Sentillia, parent company of crypto derivatives platform Deribit, leads a €4M ($4.4M) seed funding round for Netherlands-based crypto exchange Finst. (Link)

• NFT project Ecosapiens secures $3.5M in seed funding to promote eco-consciousness in blockchain collectibles. (Link)

• OneOf acquires Tap Network to bridge the gap between big firms and web3 consumers. (Link)

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All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

📈 If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse 📈

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