In General XR News
January 20, 2023 – Digital Village, a technology platform that enables the creation of 3D immersive virtual worlds, has recently announced a USD $4 million strategic funding round, backed by BOLD, L’Oréal’s venture capital fund, The Venture Reality Fund, Venrex, British Fashion Council, and others.
The company stated that the new funding will be used to enhance capabilities of its platform, adding new tools to power 3D world development, advanced avatar customization, and virtual store creation to enable brands and creators to deliver unparalleled, immersive virtual experiences.
Digital Village stated that its mission is to develop new, sustainable, and scalable technologies that empower brands and creators to create, monetize, and seamlessly connect immersive virtual experiences across existing websites and social channels, emphasizing interoperability for the seamless transfer of assets and identity across virtual experiences.
Digital Village’s “Metaverse-as-a-Service” platform empowers brands and creators to take full control of their virtual worlds in the metaverse by providing an intuitive platform to manage the end-to-end development with seamless integrations to existing tools. The platform offers a suite of products including a web-based builder that allows for collaboration and the creation of immersive virtual worlds and experiences, and a Web3 discovery search engine and social blockchain interface that allow users to discover content, increase utility and make new connections in the metaverse.
“Web3 and the metaverse are setting the stage for the next evolution of retail. Today, users click a link in a brand’s profile and are directed to a website for a solo shopping experience, but Digital Village is creating an avenue for users to visit a 3D virtual world and come together for social experiences where brands can engage with customers in a more meaningful way,” commented Evelyn Mora, Founder and CEO of Digital Village. “Virtual fashion, art, and culture represent a massive opportunity in what will be the largest disruption for commerce since the emergence of e-commerce platforms.”
Shown above: immersive worlds from Digital Village
“As L’Oréal continues to explore and define what beauty means in web3, we seek to work with the most promising startups who adhere to the highest possible visual and technical standards. We are excited to be partnering with Digital Village, whose solutions will be powerful enablers for our brands and whose ideals of sustainability, accessibility, and interoperability in the metaverse or Web3 are ones we share,” said Camille Kroely, Chief Metaverse & Web3 Officer at L’Oréal. The funding move also marks the first venture capital investment by L’Oréal in the metaverse & Web3 space, according to Digital Village.
“The development and management of virtual worlds, avatars, and assets is an expensive and time-consuming process. There is no simple end-to-end solution for virtual experiences as brands and creators have come to expect from e-commerce and website builder platforms. Digital Village’s MaaS model solves this by providing robust, aesthetically advanced templates so that anyone can create accessible and interoperable immersive experiences,” commented Marco DeMiroz, Co-Founder and General Partner at the Venture Reality Fund.
For more information on Digital Village and its Metaverse-as-a-Service solutions, please visit the company’s website.
Image / video credit: Digital Village / YouTube
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.