🔮 Metaproof

Metaproof is a media company that covers the business of the metaverse. We keep you informed how the metaverse and web3 are changing YOUR industry.

🔮Metaproof is a weekly newsletter that aggregates all of the top stories from each of our industry-specific newsletters so you get a holistic view on what is going on.

Stay informed via our Twitter and Subscribe here to get your metaverse news roundup every Friday.

📲 By the numbers

• Recent studies indicate that the global market for artificial intelligence in sports was valued at $1.B in 2021 and is expected to reach $19.9B by 2030. (Source)

• Gen Zs, according to the 2022 Metaverse Fashion Trends report, say dressing their online avatars allows them to express their individuality (47%) and feel good about themselves (43%). Other reasons are showing off their digital collection (35%), feeling more connected to peers in the digital (32%) and the physical world (25%) as well as being a recognized member of the digital society (24%). (Source)

• DappRadar reported that there are currently 1.13 million unique active wallets connected to game DAPPs across 48 different blockchains on a daily basis, representing an 85% increase from the previous year. The number of on-chain game transactions also saw a significant increase as they reached 7.4 billion, reflecting a 37% growth from the previous year and a staggering 3,260% increase since 2020. (Source)

📫 News & trends

🏀 Metaproof Sports

⏰ Hublot plays creative card as timekeeper of the metaverse

Luxury watchmaker Hublot has partnered with US-based stadium architects MEIS and metaverse builders Spatial to create the 90,000-spectator Hublot Loves Football Metaverse Stadium, dubbed a “spectacular one-kilometer-long venue showcases Hublot’s love for football, boundless innovation and community.” The move marks Hublot’s entrance in the metaverse via a hybrid sports, art, and digital events space inspired by the design of Hublot’s connected Big Bang e watch.

Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe calls the Hublot Loves Football Metaverse Stadium “a natural progression” for the brand in its legacy as a “trusted timekeeper of world football,” allowing the watchmaker to make its mark in metaverse history “when the intersection of luxury, fashion, sport and virtual worlds is beginning to take off.”

The Hublot stadium can be accessed by visitors for free from their phone, desktop, or Oculus headset.

🕶 Metaproof Fashion

👠 Valentino uses artificial intelligence to shoot latest collection

Maison Valentino has unveiled its Essential line, which was entirely shot using artificial intelligence. The collection, created through a partnership between art director Tommaso Garner and AI designer Maria Dal Maso, aims to push innovation by exploring the relationship between AI and fashion, with the campaign imagery suggesting the endless possibilities between the two. It is also designed to encourage reflection on contemporary masculinity and show that many societal expectations of how men should appear and feel have been dismantled.

The collection was said to be inspired by Italian movies of the 1950s and 60s, as well as several subcultures that have deconstructed the traditional thought of the “iron man” and given way to more optionality in how one can dress.

The Essential collection comprises pieces like tailored blazers, bermuda shorts, foulard blouses, coats, pajamas, and more, along with several Valentino Garavani accessories - items said to highlight individual expression with “uniforms of nonuniformity.”

🎮 Metaproof Gaming

🎾 Gamers, set, match: Australian Open’s Roblox experience triples real-world attendance record in less than a week

The Australian Open, only days away, has been rocking the hugely popular Roblox platform as it launched AO Adventure, offering players the chance to explore a virtual playground modeled on the tournament’s Melbourne home ground.

AO Adventure features tennis courts, obstacle courses, and branded stalls, marking Tennis Australia’s latest venture in its growing stable of web3 and metaverse-adjacent projects. Players are welcomed by “humanoid Nick,” a digital avatar of Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios, for a chance to interact with him.

Roblox players have already visited the Australian Open’s in-game experience more than 2.4 million times since its launch, the gaming platform stated, tripling recent real-world attendance numbers as Tennis Australia attempts to turn online gamers into pass-buying fans. In less than a week, the experience has amassed far more visits than the 2019 Australian Open, the last tournament unaffected by COVID-19 restrictions, which drew a record 796,000 fans over its duration.

🎥 Metaproof Media, Entertainment, IP

🤩 Digital humans make their mark in real life

Partly to draw in younger audiences, virtual stars are now in high demand for TV shows and online platforms in China. Numerous New Year celebration galas attest to this trend of digital avatars - created by AI-powered technology - making appearances across shows and entertainment venues.

At the New Year’s Eve gala staged by Bilibili, a short-video sharing platform popular with young people, celebrity virtual idol Luo Tianyi performed five songs in 10 minutes as well as appeared alongside real-life dancers to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her debut. The show attracted more than 1.4 billion views. At Dragon TV’s New Year gala, a virtual anchor played a flute and danced with celebrity singer Cheng Xiao, watched by tens of millions of viewers.

A virtual rock band also rocked a concert by Sichuan Television to mark 2023’s arrival, with the band comprising five digital avatars based on cultural relics found at the Sanxingdui site in Deyang, Sichuan province. Experts fearlessly forecast: In the future, internet users will migrate to the virtual world.

🎵 Metaproof Music

💸 Cryptocurrency fund to support local budding musicians

In Singapore, a platform run by a collective of like-minded musicians and supporters, known as The Great Wave, uses cryptocurrency to create a stash of funds for artists to draw on and use for producing and releasing their original works.

Powered by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), the platform is likened to a “company that’s run by a series of different smart contracts,” promoting trust among people who can come together for a common funding goal. By using the DAO, The Great Wave has increased its stable of artists, such as those from South Korea, to more than 10 in under a year.

Independent musicians, however, are encouraged to understand first how blockchain technology works before they hop on the bandwagon.

🎨 Metaproof Art

🦸 Celebrated Marvel and DC artist launches on-chain comic series

Renowned Marvel and DC comic artist Sean Chen has announced the launch of an on-chain comic series powered by content studio 247 Comics and building upon the world first hinted at with the release of his BiPlane Bobo PFP initiative.

The artist - one of the comic book industry’s most celebrated as he drew characters like Iron Man and Batman - “wanted to do something unique for new audiences looking for further story depth in their favorite digital collectibles.”

247 Comics, forming a network of passionate creators, collectors, and artists, has embraced a decentralized community ownership model and said that the success of every new comic series will be determined by collectors, who can participate in the growth and expansion of each franchise. It has also announced forming a dedicated marketplace with NFT platform Origin Story.

💸 Finance buzz

• Animoca Brands Japan, a strategic subsidiary of Animoca Brands, revealed making a strategic investment of ¥10M (approximately $773,996) into Psychic VR Lab’s ¥1B fundraising round in December last year. (Source)

• Mobile games publisher Carry1st secured $27M in funding to develop its publishing and digital content creation platform in Africa, an area that investors believe has high potential for web3 adoption. (Source)

• Katie Haun is a crypto investor and founder of web3 VC fund Haun Ventures. In 2022, she raised $1.5B for the firm, the largest initial fund ever raised by a solo female founding partner, and also led a $50M funding round to boost Zora’s NFT tooling protocol. (Source)

• Decent, a no-code application platform and SDK that makes it easy for anyone to build innovative web3 applications and NFT releases, raises $3.5M in a seed round to allow the music industry to embrace web3 seamlessly. It promotes friendly UX tooling to ignite mainstream adoption of crypto rails, enabling creators and developers to autonomously monetize their work. (Source)

🗣️ Quote of the week

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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.

Stay informed via our Twitter and Subscribe here to get your metaverse news roundup every Friday.