In this article, we will discuss the 13 most ambitious metaverse companies in the world. You can skip our detailed discussion regarding the metaverse industry, its dynamics, and its future outlook, and go directly to the 5 Most Ambitious Metaverse Companies in the World.
Imagine being able to jump from one concert to another in a matter of seconds, or go from your native land to any country in the world without having to catch an exhausting flight, or attend all your meetings from your home but in your office. These are only a few use-cases to name that the metaverse promises.
What Is The Metaverse?
The metaverse is a shared online space, combining physical, augmented, and virtual reality, and it is set to reshape the world by becoming an integral part of our day-to-day lives in the next 10 to 15 years. The metaverse sits at the crossroads of Web3.0, blockchain, and virtual and augmented reality. Once people around the world get familiarized with these concepts, the metaverse industry will grow at an exponential rate. As of now, the world is functioning on Web2.0, where the only thing an individual can own wholly is a domain name. As we move into the realm of Web3.0, individuals can own a multitude of things in the form of digital assets. Anything an individual can create, buy, or sell on Web3.0 can be solely owned by that individual with digital rights of ownership. Blockchain technology and NFTs make this possible. Blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and NFTs serve as the foundation of the metaverse, a decentralized virtual world where there is no one group of people will have majority ownership of the internet.
Metaverse Market Analysis
Use cases for the building blocks of the metaverse — NFTs, cryptocurrencies, VR and AR — were once only limited to the gaming and entertainment industries. As these technologies mature, the metaverse will transform more than just the gaming and entertainment industries.
According to a report by Brandessence Market Research, the global metaverse market was valued at $209.77 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to $716.5 billion by 2027 at a compound annual growth rate of 22.7%. A report published by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. pointed out that current efforts in building the metaverse are structured in a way to promote the peaceful coexistence of stakeholders, irrespective of their size.
This will serve as the key to the metaverse being decentralized and would speed up the development of Web3.0. The metaverse is aimed at bringing a wide range of industrial sectors including entertainment, finance, travel, and gaming industries into an immersive digital ecosystem where cryptocurrencies and NFTs are invaluable assets.
Key Trends and Major Players In The Industry
There is a fair amount of abstraction as to how businesses across the world will be operating on the metaverse, however, some corporate sectors have already started working on innovative solutions to become a part of the virtual revolution. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) developed and published Horizon Worlds, a virtual world where users can explore, play, and create new worlds. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is actively funding the development of Web3.0 and the metaverse. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced Azure Digital Twins which will allow users to create a digital representation of real-world entities and run simulations on them, allowing businesses to gauge feasibility in cost-effective ways.
Notable Projects
Giant tech companies such as Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) are pouring in billion-dollar investments to catapult the metaverse industry into a trillion-dollar industry. However, there have been some notable efforts and contributions to the building of the metaverse in the past, before it became a buzzword.
Linden Lab is widely known for creating Second Life, an online multiplayer game. Second Life was launched in 2003 and offered users the ability to create an avatar for themselves and lead a “second life” in an online virtual world. The platform allowed users to interact with places, objects, and other avatars. Users of the platform are called “residents”. Residents can explore the world, meet other “residents”, socialize, participate in both individual and group activities, build, create, shop, and trade virtual property and services with one another. Second Life has its own digital currency, the Linden Dollar, which users can buy with real money. The game rose to popularity over the decade and gained over one million users in 2013. As of 2021, the platform has more than 900,000 active users.
Another prominent and ambitious company in the virtual space is video-game maker Pixowl, which designed and developed the popular non-linear mobile game, The Sandbox. The players of the game explore resources such as water, soil, and sand, among others, and work on building their own virtual worlds. Players make progress through the game by performing tasks such as using water and dirt to make mud or making a battery from scratch. The Sandbox was acquired by Chinese video game company Animoca Brands, in August 2018, which worked on adding blockchain functionality to the game. The blockchain version of The Sandbox enabled users to monetize their intellectual property in the game. In the third quarter of 2019, Animoca raised over $2.5 million to fund the development of the blockchain version of The Sandbox. The platform has its own digital currency, SAND, which is used to transact over the network.
Other prominent companies that are leading the innovation in building the metaverse are Roblox Corporation (NYSE:RBLX), Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U).
Our Methodology
To find the 13 most ambitious metaverse companies in the world, we looked at various metaverse market reports that highlighted the major players in the industry. We look at the vision statements of each company to determine what it aspires to bring to the metaverse. We examined each company’s product portfolios, earnings reports, analyst comments, and hedge fund sentiment. We also looked at each company’s metaverse projects and gave weight to the competitive advantage that the company has over others.
Photo by mahdis mousavi on Unsplash
Most Ambitious Metaverse Companies in the World
13. Matterport, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTTR)
Market Capitalization: $2.33 Billion.
Matterport, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTTR) is a spatial data company that focuses on the digitization of the physical world. It offers Matterport digital twins, a 3D data platform to design, build, operate, promote, and understand spaces. The company offers solutions for real estate, photography, travel and hospitality, retail, insurance and restoration, industrial and facilities management, architecture, and engineering and construction industries. Matterport, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTTR) has a promising use-case in the metaverse as it is using its ground-breaking spatial data technology to build digital twins of physical infrastructures.
In June 2021, Matterport, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTTR) announced a strategic collaboration with Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), then Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), to build the largest-ever dataset of 3D indoor spaces, The Habitat-Matterport 3D Research Dataset. This dataset consists of 1,000 high-resolution Matterport digital twins made up of residential, commercial, and civic spaces generated taken from real-world environments. The goal of this collaboration was to develop Meta Platforms, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:FB) AI simulation platform, Habitat, and to make robots and virtual AI assistants better understand how to navigate the physical world.
Tiger Global Management LLC is the leading shareholder in Matterport, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTTR) as of March 7, 2022. The fund’s stakes in the company were valued at $154.8 million, which covers 0.33% of Tiger Global Management LLC’s investment portfolio.
12. Animoca Brands
Market Capitalization: N/A
Animoca Brands is a Hong Kong-based game software company and venture capital company founded 2014 by Yat Siu. The company is a pioneer in digital entertainment, blockchain, and decentralized gaming. The company operates its various business segments such as The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Bondly, Lympo, and Grease Monkey Games.
Animoca Brands boasts an impressive portfolio of more than 150 investments in NFT-related companies and decentralized projects that are contributing to building the open metaverse, including Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, and Star Atlas among others.
Animoca Brands is most famous for The Sandbox, which is a popular multimedia platform today. HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE:HSBC) bought its first digital asset in the metaverse, this March. The Hong-Kong based bank is making inroads in the metaverse and purchased a virtual plot in The Sandbox, at an unannounced price. As of March 2022, The Sandbox reports to have over two million registered users.
11. Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U)
Market Capitalization: $27.64 Billion
Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U) creates and operates an interactive real-time 3D content platform. This March, the company announced that it will be collaborating with Insomniac Events. Insomniac has over 30 years of experience in organizing music festivals and events, and now it has paired up with Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U) to build a brand new metaverse world where Insomniac’s fans will be able to gather and engage virtually for live music performances regardless of location. Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U) has the potential for becoming a go-to platform for metaverse applications.
Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U) reported its annual revenue for 2021 to be $1.11 billion. As of March 29, 2022, the company’s market share stands at $27.64 billion. On March 28, 2022, Daiwa analyst Jonathan K
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