EFT goal, $ 80 million for virtual reality chat, JigSpace, funded by WXR

Metaverse spoke this week with several major announcements. VRChat has just raised $ 80 million to create a digital economy that will reward its builders. Social RV companies like VR Chat and Rec Room will attract and retain an audience based, in large part, on a very unique type of user-generated content: avatars and sites. In fact, this is how Roblox users are compensated by other users. World builders will soon become the most sought after to be celebrity streamers. It will win the company that provides the best tools and the largest audience and, most importantly, the biggest rewards for its community of builders. As if ready, introduce Matthew Ball, former Amazon Studios strategist turned VC, who has written brilliantly about The Metaverse. On Wednesday, June 30, it launched Metaverse-themed EFT (Exchange Traded Fund).

VRChat secures $ 80 million in D-Series funding to create its own digital economy The round was led by Anthos Capital, alongside participating investors Makers Fund, GFR Fund and others. It is a six-year-old company, which had previously raised $ 15 million. The company, which manages one of the largest XR metaverses, says the funds will be used to accelerate the manufacturer’s economy.

The ETF that allows you to invest in public technology companies that build parts of Metaverse The Roundhill Ball EFT (Exchange Traded Fund) will buy shares related to Metaverse, a kind of index fund curated by Matthew Ball. EFT will be listed on the NYSE as a META. So far, the funds appear to contain names known as Qualcomm and Nvidia. Read here the famous Ball post he wrote on Metaverse in January 2021.

WXR Fund, the first investment fund to invest exclusively in women in extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI) spaces, closed its inaugural fund at $ 5 million. Congratulations to partners Abby Albright, Martina Welkoff, Amy LaMeyer and Malia Probst. Among the companies in his portfolio are Obsess (which closed the $ 10 million series A this week), absurd: Joy, Embodied Labs, Wavely Diagnostics, All3D.ai, Prisms of Reality, and Scatter.

Apple and Snap partner JigSpace, the “Canva for 3D”, raises a $ 4.7 million A-Series Its free and popular template space app allows users to create free 3D applications without coding. The Pro version starts at $ 49 a month for individuals. The funding round was led by Rampersand, with Investible and new investors, including Vulpes and Roger Allen AM.

Rec Room to add Android app. The social world of free RV has exploded since Apple game consoles and devices were added. The Android version should further accelerate its growth. The company recently raised $ 100 million at a valuation of $ 125 million, in order to build a digital economy and reward its community of builders.

Discord acquires Ubiquity6 in the augmented reality launch. The AR cloud company that created the spectacular exploration app, Display.Land, solved its ambitious plans, concluding that it would take too long to earn revenue. Faced with brutal competition and huge costs, they folded their hands. The last time I spoke to co-founder and CEO, Anjney Midha, they were thinking of returning money to investors. Discord and U6 share several venture capitalists, so they have done so.

Kuaishou, TikTok’s Chinese enemy, reaches one billion monthly users worldwide The Chinese short video company surpassed the mark of one million monthly active users (MAU), closing TikTok’s 1.2 MAU. China remains the key market of Kuaishou.

This week on XR is now a podcast hosted by Paramount futurist Ted Schilowitz and Charlie Fink, the author of this weekly column. You can find it on podcasting platforms Spotify, iTunes, i YouTube.

What we are reading

Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson tells Venture Beat’s Dean Takahashi how they’re getting traction with their business pivot.

Fortnite’s new virtual concert may be the most fun yet (Andrew Webster / The Verge)

Shopify delves deeper into the camera business (Mike Boland / AR Insider)

Which cities in the United States have the best 5G? (Whistleout)