London-based Hadean has raised $30 million in Series A funding to build out infrastructure for this new digital world. Molten Ventures led the round with help from Epic Games, which developed popular online video game Fortnite. Other participants included 2050 Capital, Alumni Ventures, Aster Capital, Entrepreneur First and InQTe.
The metaverse is a digital world created by the combination of virtual reality, augmented reality and the internet. While the technology is in its infancy, many believe it will profoundly change the worlds of gaming, social media and ecommerce. Last week, JPMorgan said in a research report that the metaverse-related economy of China alone could reach $4 trillion.
“As an open platform for distributed cloud computing,” Hadean said in an announcement Friday, “Hadean can be considered the ‘infrastructure’ that powers the metaverse so it can become a reality.”
While Hadean is still in its infancy, the market for the technology it offers is vast. The inclusion of a major gaming company like Epic Games into this funding round is a strong sign that it could be poised for rapid growth in the future.