The new report from Nasdaq found that larger metaverse platforms received more attention from investors this year
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There has been a marked decline in metaverse funding deals from Q1 of this year to Q4. However, larger metaverse support startups continued to get their fair share of investors’ money, found the recent Nasdaq research. Moreover, investors didn’t give up on the economic potential of the open metaverse.
Animoca Brands, a major metaverse ecosystem developer, completed the most funding deals (15) over the last year, receiving over $564 million.
Overall, Nasdaq estimates that 216 metaverse funding deals took place over the last year. Their aggregate value neared US$2 billion in funding. The top-funded?projects were “support” based services, providing the main components for building and maintaining metaverse. Gaming startups weren’t that far behind, in particular, those operating in the extended reality (XR) space.
Meanwhile, in consumer-centric sectors like metaverses themselves and NFTs, Most VC funds came from Web3-focused funds rather than mainstream VCs, corporations and private equity.
Although metaverse investments have represented a relatively small portion of total blockchain investments, given the inherent interoperability of Web3 tech, the investment that benefits one sector indirectly benefits the others too.
As for the 2023 prospects, the report says support services AI and avatar firms will continue to see major investment. Furthermore, the expansion of open metaverse platforms will bring in the next phase of the industry development, with improved economic models and usability in GameFi.
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Nina Bobro
Nina is passionate about financial technologies and environmental issues, reporting on the industry news and the most exciting projects that build their offerings around the intersection of fintech and sustainability.
