L’oreal, Coty beautify the metaverse

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

✨ Top Picks

The Future, today. In just 3 minutes.

1/ L’Oréal Professionnel gets voluminous with new metaverse hairstyle drop, while Coty launches employee-focused metaverse space Coty Campus

The metaverse gets its dose of volume and beauty this week with launches from two global cosmetics giants.

Hair care and styling label L’Oréal Professionnel launches five virtual hairstyles accessible across major platforms Roblox, Ready Player Me, and Zepeto. Collectively known as Gravitas, the new virtual hairstyles let “metaverse gamers to fully express themselves.”

L’Oréal has long been bullish on the metaverse, including the parent company launching five virtual hairstyles on Ready Player Me in November. The current drop appears to be launched with intent towards interoperability, or the capability for virtual identities to remain consistent across multiple platforms - an ideal among metaverse believers.

International cosmetics behemoth Coty, on the other hand, builds a gamified employee training space via the Coty Campus. Launching in the fall, the first-of-its-kind platform targets better collaboration among Coty’s 11,000 global workforce.

Coty hasn’t shied away from the metaverse either, with focus on AR, VR, and digital spaces as it dominates global beauty with fashion-linked brands Jil Sander and Gucci Beauty, celebrity lines like Kylie Cosmetics and SKKN By Kim, and mass brands such as Cover Girl.

2/ Unleashing the green economy: How blockchain can transform climate-friendly investment opportunities

With the mounting urgency to tackle climate change, sustainability comes to the fore when it comes to new technologies like blockchain and digital currencies.

For experts, blockchain can help transform the green economy and catalyze climate-friendly investment and innovation across sectors. Here’s how:

• Blockchain can amplify voluntary carbon markets to channel billions of dollars towards green investments,

• Facilitate the widespread adoption of parametric insurance for climate events, and

• Accelerate development of open data infrastructure necessary to help coordinate global actors.

Operating as a decentralized digital ledger, blockchain can redefine how governments, private firms, multinationals, and communities adapt to and mitigate climate change risks. It can be one way for climate stakeholders - read: everyone - to harness innovations, robust information-sharing networks, and sustainable infrastructure.

3/ Initial £100 million for expert taskforce to help UK build and adopt next generation of safe AI

The UK prime minister and technology secretary are committing £100M in startup funding to accelerate the country's capabilities in language models like ChatGPT, on top of the £900M previously invested in computer tech.

The goal: To make sure the UK stays on top of the AI game and cements its status as a tech superpower by 2030.

Edwin Hayward, author of Slaying Brexit Unicorns, is far from impressed:

“The pace of this whole process feels completely wrong. AI capabilities are improving by the day, and yet there's talk of ‘pilots’ within six months … £100M isn't even a drop in the ocean. All the real experts are going to be courted by OpenAI, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon etc. on massive salaries.”

In the tweet of another user:

“Government wants to be cutting-edge in tech development but, simultaneously, doesn't even understand how end-to-end encryption is essential for much of what we do already.”

4/ Luxury brands must resolve the challenges of the metaverse to unlock its opportunities

Luxury brands can win big by taking advantage of metaverse opportunities in immersive retail and sustainability. To maximize their gain, they can tackle these challenges and turn them into sustainable benefits:

• Ignoring crypto’s volatility - Embrace the crypto-craze despite its instability as the super-rich continue to seek novel ways to spend their money, with 18% owning cryptocurrency and 34% viewing the NFT market as promising.

• Collaboration - Brands like Gucci are partnering with digital platforms and creators to design luxury digital goods. By embracing NFTs and digital fashion, luxury brands can stay relevant and profitable in the virtual realm.

• Innovation to revolution - Shopping's future is getting a makeover - enter the metaverse’s immersive commerce. Brands like Dior & Puig offer personal experiences with AI and sensorial tech, while digital avatars make info delivery more human and content more accessible.

🏃‍♂️ Quick Hits

🎮 Gaming

• How to become a game developer using ChatGPT. (Link)

• Web3 event facilitator DCENTRAL and 3XP host what they claim as North America’s 1st web3 game expo. (Link)

• The global metaverse gaming market is valued at $51B in 2023, with hardware accounting for 48% share. (Link)

• This games studio creates games for global brands, yet the “metaverse” is a word its CEO now tries to avoid. (Link)

• What’s the future of the metaverse and web3 gaming in Switzerland? (Link)

• Fortnite bans Clix for “teaming” during the game, slaps disqualification for the rest of the season. (Link)

🕶 Fashion

• Indigo Herz Pack: Adidas’ NFT-inspired collection in the metaverse. (Link)

• NYC to host a global beauty and fashion tech forum focused on AI and AR. (Link)

• Online fashion marketplace Farfetch is making a case for luxury virtual try-on. (Link)

• Generative digital fashion platform DRAUP is skipping the metaverse - for now. (Link)

• A supermodel turns herself into one of Epic’s hyperrealistic MetaHumans. (Link)

🏀 Sports

• Animoca teams up with UFC champ Rose Namajunas on digital sports memorabilia collector’s challenge. (Link)

• The human brain reacts differently to table tennis matches against humans and robot opponents. (Link)

• Review: Tennis League VR serves up a colorful arcade game, but it's not quite a Grand Slam. (Link)

• Polytechnic grad students design the future of Purdue Sports in the metaverse. (Link)

• Discover sports-to-earn (S2E) project PIXER Eternity. (Link)

🎥 Media & Entertainment

• Pepsi powers on its 1st metaverse immersive digital experience space. (Link)

• Technology, media, and telecommunications (TMTs) are leveraging the metaverse's growth. (Link)

• Facebook advertisers are in for a surprise as an ad delivery system bug leads to excess spending. (Link)

• An ML program could spot sexual harassment on Instagram. (Link)

• Twitter reinstates free blue checkmarks for accounts with 1M+ followers. (Link)

• How AI and Gen Z's tech embrace aid exponential tech progress in video games, movies, and TV. (Link)

• Entertainment firm Color Star is launching a virtual music band. (Link)

🖼 Art & NFTs

• Ex-OpenSea manager's trial kicks off in 1st NFT insider trading case. (Link)

• Sneak peak: Bobby Hundreds' upcoming book NFTs Are A Scam / NFTs Are the Future. (Link)

• oncyber: From 3D art display to a full-fledged metaverse. (Link)

• Singer-songwriter Hanjin Tan debuts NFT artworks in Macau at MIAM's Dream Space. (Link)

• 30 Q&As on the correlation between NFTs and the metaverse. (Link)

• Divinci is Sri Lanka’s 1st metaverse art exhibition in the futureverse. (Link)

🤖 AI

• AI could be making movies in 2 years, according to the Avengers director. (Link)

• Samsung releases its AI image editing app Galaxy Enhance-X. (Link)

• AutoGPT and BabyAGI use autonomous AI agents - the forerunners of the big, fat, scary AGI. (Link)

• AI and a smile? Coca-Cola leverages AI for better customer service and ordering. (Link)

• Generative AI boosts worker productivity by 14%. (Link)

• Human AI wearable made by former Apple employees. (Link)

• 6 ways AI improves decision-making. (Link)

💸 Funding & Partnerships

• Foxconn secures XRSPACE with $25M to boost local immersive technology growth. (Link)

• Decentralized-finance platform Thetanuts Finance closes $17M funding to forge new partnerships. (Link)

• XR chip startup GravityXR completes a pre-A+ worth millions of dollars. (Link)

• Upcoming NFT marketplace Colecti receives a €470K equity investment in 2022 from Lisk as pre-seed fundraising. (Link)

• Blockchain-based casual game developer Gumble attracts its 1st seed investment. (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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