🔮 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

• The global market for metaverse in entertainment generated a revenue of $13.8B in 2021 and is expected to reach $221.7B by 2031, with a CAGR of 32.3% from 2022 to 2031. (Source)

• Limit Break, the developer of digital collectibles firm DigiDaigaku, claimed to have spent $6.5M to put the only 1 cryptocurrency-related advertisement during this year’s Super Bowl. (Source)

• The virtual fashion sector will be worth more than $55B by 2030, according to a US investment bank. (Source)

📫 News & trends

🏀 Metaproof Sports

💵 Binance-backed web3 gaming startup Unagi gets funding to expand fantasy sports platform

Web3 gaming company Unagi has secured €4.7M in seed funding to expand its NFT fantasy sports platform and launch Ultimate Champions Basketball, bringing its total equity financing to €6.1M and the total amount raised through token sales to $5.7M.

In order to make this dream a reality, Unagi partnered with the European basketball competition EuroLeague and plans to launch next month the basketball version of its fantasy sports game that allows users to collect and trade legendary players from any sport as NFTs. It is currently in talks with several partners in the US and Asia to bring the game to more markets.

🕶 Metaproof Fashion

👗 AR collections and NFT runways: Digital fashion takes over New York Fashion Week

Digital fashion has made strides in brand/designer communication, although it has yet to be fully integrated into physical fashion weeks. This AW23 NYFW may have been one of the first to highlight its concept, both in official and unofficial events. See some exciting prospects here:

• Web3 fashion platform Syky showcased digital design collections by six Syky community members, and the company recently closed a $9.5M funding round to back its mission as a marketplace and incubator.

• Private Policy's AW23 collection We Are All Animals stunned through augmented reality (AR) and blended goth and grunge subcultures.

• Zero10 partnered with Digital Fashion Week NY to bring five looks into AR.

• Vivienne Tam's AW23 collection Weaving into the Metaverse, incorporating imagery of China's 12 zodiac symbols and web3 NFTs, was followed by an afterparty with access to both the physical and metaverse worlds.

• BCBGMaxAzria released a 16-piece evening wear collection both physically and digitally in Decentraland with celebrity stylist Maeve Reilly and creative director Albino Riganello.

🎮 Metaproof Gaming

☄️’Dragon Ball’ enters metaverse under Toei Animation, The Sandbox partnership

The Sandbox and Toei Animation have partnered to bring the globally famous Dragon Ball IP to the virtual world. This collaboration marks a significant step in the growth of the Ethereum-based metaverse gaming company, which has been striving to create an engaging virtual world for its players. With Toei Animation, a leading anime production house that is home to many classic IPs like One Piece, Sailor Moon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! onboard, The Sandbox’s virtual world is anticipated to become more vibrant.

The Dragon Ball IP itself has already seen collaborations with renowned names like Funko and Fortnite. It will be interesting to see how this partnership brings the beloved brand to life in the virtual realm, as Toei Animation's Dragon Ball has been airing in Japan since 1986 and is arguably the most popular anime show of all time. The manga or printed comic has sold over 300 million copies worldwide since its debut.

🎥 Metaproof Media, Entertainment, IP

🔄 Tencent reshuffles metaverse department amid rumors of disbandment

Amid rumors of the group’s potential disbandment, Tencent has confirmed that it will be carrying out a personnel reshuffle in its metaverse unit. The Chinese social and gaming giant has been competing with other Big Tech firms such as Facebook, Microsoft, Alibaba, and Bytedance for dominance in the metaverse space, but the prolonged bear market and other unfavorable conditions have caused some setbacks in the race to the top. A few details:

• All the departments in Tencent’s virtual worlds unit received a notice to seek employment in other departments within the company or other firms within two months

• 300 individuals will be affected by the “personnel reshuffle” decision.

Despite this, Tencent recently held its first global web3 summit in Singapore to explore the potential of blockchain technology, a move reflecting China's increasing support for blockchain and following Hong Kong's announcement that retail investors can trade Ether and Bitcoin in June. Tencent is partnering with blockchain API providers, web3 infrastructure builders, and cloud providers to attract web3 developers, which will benefit Chinese web3 developers who want to work closer to home.

🎵 Metaproof Music

📹 New YouTube CEO is bullish on web3 tech like NFTs and the metaverse 

YouTube’s new CEO Neal Mohan, who has ascended into the role after former CEO Susan Wojcicki stepped down, was the platform’s Chief Product Officer for over seven years. If Mohan’s long tenure shaping YouTube’s offerings were any indication, he’s a fan of web3, NFTs, and emerging tech, where last year he revealed in a blog post that YouTube was eyeing web3 integration by becoming more immersive via leveraging the metaverse of tapping into NFTs.

Wojcicki herself commended Mohan for having a pivotal role in launching YouTube TV and YouTube Music. As one of the most popular websites in the world, YouTube’s popularity and reach cannot be understated; it ranked only behind Google when it came to use, with 74.8 billion visits on average per month from September to November 2022.

🎨 Metaproof Art

🙌 Superchief NFT gallery and MAIF team up for largest AI art exhibition

The use of AI takes centerstage in the upcoming DEEP FAKE exhibition, a collaboration between the MAIF art collective and Superchief Gallery, the largest exhibition of its kind featuring 73 works by 62 AI-enabled artists. The show aims to explore the potential of AI to push the boundaries of reality and challenge perceptions. The works created with the help of AI algorithms, set to run from March 24 to April 10 at the Superchief Gallery in New York City, will take visitors on a journey through a variety of styles and techniques ranging from abstract to representational art.

The show will also explore how AI can be used to create new forms of expression and art, as well as how it can enable artists to find new ways to express themselves. Superchief is one of the world’s first physical NFT galleries, opening its doors in 2021 and working with the likes of Christie’s Auction House, The United Nations, and others to produce IRL NFT events.

👩‍💻 Metaproof AI

🤖 A human convincingly beat an artificial intelligence at Go with the help of another bot

In a rare human victory since a landmark victory in 2016, amateur player Kellin Pelrine has beaten high-class AI KataGo system in the game of Go, winning 14 out of 15 games. How? By exploiting a weakness discovered by another bot! Further details on the rare win:

• Research company FAR AI developed a program that spots KataGo’s weaknesses, so after playing more than 1 million games it detected a weakness - the same method used to defeat Leela Zero, another top Go AI.

• The goal was to create a large “loop” of stones to encircle an opponent’s group, then distract the computer by making moves in other areas of the board. Its group was nearly surrounded, yet the computer failed to notice the strategy.

• The flaw shows how AI systems can’t “think” outside of their training, so they often do things that seem silly to a human.

💸 Finance buzz

• AI-related stocks: Buzzfeed rallied 300% after announcing it will use ChatGPT to generate some content. C3.AI is up 125% YTD. (Source)

• Abu Dhabi technology ecosystem Hub71 launched Hub71+ Digital Assets with a capital backing of over $2B. This project is dedicated to advancing web3-based innovations and reflects the UAE’s first-mover advantage in the region in all things metaverse, NFTs, and web3. (Source)

• Gaming startup Improbable, whose blockchain project has been valued at $1B, got backers pledging approximately $150M to its new project dubbed as M². (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.