If your inbox looks like mine, you’re already pretty dang tired of the word metaverse and the chorus of hucksters and grifters currently trying to cash in on what was at one point a much-wanted idea. But alas, the list of companies now vying – or trying to be seen as vying – to join in the metaverse rush keeps growing. Today, Pokemon Go company Niantic has joined the roster.
According to TechCrunch, Niantic raised $300M for a “real-world metaverse,” which now brings the company’s value to $9B. Niantic’s John Hanke has previously said that a virtual-reality-bound metaverse would be a “dystopian nightmare,” signaling his intend to build one that ensures the “virtual world leads [people] to a physical one.”
“Unlike a sci-fi metaverse, a real-world metaverse will use technology to improve our experience of the world as we’ve known it for thousands of years,” he’s previously said.
“Niantic is building a platform for AR based on a 3D map of the world that we believe will play a critical role in the next transition in computing,” a general partner at Coatue, the key investor in this round, said in the press release. “We are excited to partner with Niantic because we see this infrastructure supporting a metaverse for the real world and helping to power the next evolution of the internet”
