In August 2021, the Web3 Community was introduced. noun — a randomly generated NFT character that has since generated over $47 million in sales. At the time of writing he has 505 nouns, but this story starts with Noun #9. This is the bat that inspired his collection of 2,000 NFTs on Metaversal, which grows daily.
Since our founding in 2021, metaversal is a combination investment firm and venture studio that has established itself as the fastest growing global Web3 enterprise with a mission to inspire and empower the next generation of creators. Just months after Nouns was introduced, Metaversal embarked on a quest to acquire the iconic NFT assets that underlie this new technology.
The following year, Metaversal expanded its collection and business with the acquisition of Squiggle, partnerships with renowned generative artists, and investments in robots redefining the art industry.
Bridging the gap between investment, curation and creation, Metaversal operates in a state of constant collaboration in all its initiatives. The investment team informs studio strategy, and the studio team’s expertise informs investment decisions.
Key to all of this is their 360-degree investment approach, their unique value proposition, and their goal of curating and educating others about this new technology and its potential.
360 degree approach
Once the Metaversal team identifies a person or project that fits their mission of building a creator-first future, they get to work. As an active value-added investor, Metaversal takes pride in playing a key role within the team and playing a role in facilitating new partnerships and synergistic opportunities.
“If Metaversal or portfolio companies within our ecosystem have no value, the deal is simply not appropriate,” explains Metaversal co-founder Dan Schmerin.
This example begins with Metaversal acquiring three works from a well-known generative artist. Sophia Crespo.
“We believe AI and generative art will redefine the relationship between humans and computers, expression and the creative process.”
Matt Miller, Metaversal Investment Analyst
“After the acquisition, we invited Sophia to our social channels and helped her grow her incredible talent,” said Matt Miller, investment analyst at Metaversal.she agreed to participate meta letter, a Metaversal initiative to support budding digital artists. His collaboration with one of Metaversal’s newest portfolio companies will bring his one of Crespo’s works to life for the exhibition. art matThe robotics company uses proprietary machinery and software to build high-fidelity IRL recreations of digital art.
“We believe AI and generative art will redefine the relationship between humans and computers, expression and the creative process,” says Miller. “Sofia Crespo is a pioneer in the field and I am sure she will be recognized as such as the art form evolves.”
unique value proposition
Gone are the days of copy-and-paste projects and protocols. Each project must have a unique value proposition that stands out above the noise on Web3.
When evaluating potential deals, the metaversal team asks itself two key questions. And who is the founding team?
Founder
As with many early-stage technology investments, you need a high level of confidence in the capabilities of your founding team. While track record and reputation are important, Metaversal also values passion, transparency, humility and, of course, demonstrable skills. Founders with these qualities are best suited to weather the unpredictable nature of Web3 and stay strong through all market conditions.
take exosama team for example, donnie big bagMetaversal co-founder and CEO Yossi Hasson said:
Moreover, they demonstrate “creative audacity”. This is a trait that investment analyst Jameson his mer experienced in his early days joining the Exosama community before investing in Metaversal. “At the time, it was a completely Telegram-based community that was intentionally opaque and had a strict whitelisting process,” he says. In the end it was worth it. Exosama’s founder acknowledged Mah’s efforts, noting that few members of his community deliberately accomplished the arduous task.
“We believe in going into the trenches rather than approaching the community from an ivory tower,” Ma explains. “Not only is it important to understand what makes a project and its community special, but it is also important for building trust.”
“We are looking forward to working with the Exosama team and ecosystem,” said Mah. “We are looking at leveraging the capabilities of our creative studio in combination with his Exosama capabilities of building blockchain-based mini-games.”
long term perspective
Guided by a mission to empower creators and builders, support projects that believe that Metaversal “will exist in the next 5, 10, or 20 years and will ultimately be seen as defining an era.” I’m doing it.
An example of this is a company’s purchase of Noun #9 and DeGods NFTs“We were the first institutional investor to buy a noun,” says Hasson. “And we worked on his DeGods early as well, at a time when it was not clear that DeGods would become an ecosystem-leading project.”
Of course, not everything is early. So did Chromie Squiggles. Metaversal didn’t exist when the Art Blocks poster child was created, but the Metaversal collection includes multiple of her Squiggles, including a rare “HyperRainbow” iteration.
“We leveraged our network and internal marketing analytics to broker a very competitive deal,” says Miller, who helped broker the deal.
curation and education
When it comes to the Metaversal Collection, the motivation is not just to curate iconic NFTs and preserve them for their historical relevance. Ultimately sharing them with the world. Metaversal sees Web3 as a technological movement as well as a cultural one. It will fundamentally change the way culture is shaped, distributed and consumed.
“This bear market exposes the raw culture of the universe. Those who are still building after speculative interest has dried up are true visionaries,” says Schmelin. They are the ones who will change the status quo of endless industry segments where NFT technology is applicable.”
“We see the potential of NFTs and their impact on culture, technology, finance, fashion and music,” adds Hasson.
“We are at the end of the beginning of NFT and the most exciting phase is still ahead.”
Dan Schmelin, co-founder of Metaversal
One such way Metaversal is curating and educating is through 2023 sponsorships. Lumen Prize for Generative ArtNow in its 11th year, the Lumen Prize promotes the importance of digital art in the contemporary art world and supports innovative artists who explore the intersection of art, technology and blockchain.
“Being on all these different paths means being able to understand and influence the ecosystem holistically and meaningfully,” says Schmerin. “Our general view is that we are at the end of the NFT beginning and the most exciting stages are still ahead.”
