Global metaverse platform ‘Spatial’ has attracted 30 billion won or $25 million of new investment. The startup founded by Korean Chief Product Officer Jin-ha Lee (CPO) and Anand Agarwala in 2017 has recently expanded its business from an AR/VR collaboration platform to a metaverse platform centered on creators and artists.
Fine Venture Partners, KB Investment, Korea Investment Partners, Mirae Asset, etc., participated as new investors in this investment round. Inovia Capital, White Star Capital, and Lerehippo also joined as consecutive investors. Spatial attracted 17 billion won of Series A investment last year and recorded a cumulative investment of 59 billion won through this round.
Spatial pays attention to the fact that more than 80% of users access the web or mobile without a separate device and the need for a space where many artists can easily trade and experience works as the creator-based economy is activated. The service evolved into a metaverse gallery model.
Connecting artists, art lovers through shared space
Spatial’s newly introduced service stands for ‘the world’s largest metaverse gallery.’ It is a metaverse where artists, creators, and collectors can freely interact with a reality that resembles them and share space through an avatar. With only a few clicks, artists can have their exhibition hall. The startup plans to accelerate the role of a 3D hub between digital artists and visitors who need exhibitions in the art and creative work market and build an unprecedented metaverse ecosystem that incorporates culture.
Currently, many Spatial users are NFT creators, artists, and collectors, and they are looking forward to meeting in a more immersive environment that could not be realized in the past 2D platform. Spatial users can meet in a beautifully designed space or use gallery invitation exhibitions with a single click through desired routes and channels such as web, mobile, and VR. Spatial usage has quadrupled in just two months after switching the service to a metaverse platform for creators and artists.
Spatial getting attention from global artists
Influential global artists such as Grammy Award-winning producer Ilmind, digital artists Christa Kim, and Ken Kellerher drew attention by actively communicating with fans by holding events through Spatial and selling NFT works.
The latest Spatial users can experience twice the performance and log in to the Ethereum wallet, MetaMask. By linking the wallet, one can create a virtual gallery that can be shared simply as a link. Spatial not only supports decentralized infrastructure, including Ethereum wallet, but is also working to build an open metaverse for several blockchain services to operate in the near future.
Jin-ha Lee, Spatial CPO, said, “We are creating a world where digital NFT works are not simply objects of appreciation and trading but are used as a means of experience. There were not enough means to connect the exchange between the work and the audience. We hear that they are happy to be able to share their experiences of art appreciation by inviting people to the virtual gallery directly through Spatial. I want to change the Internet, which was invented as a means of communication, into a means of sharing experiences.”
Spatial co-founder Jin-ha Lee graduated from Gyeonggi Science High School and the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Tokyo. At the age of 28, he was scouted by Samsung Electronics for being the Innovator under the age of 35, selected by MIT Technology Review, and named in the list of 32 world-class designers selected by Fast Company.
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