Animoca Brands K.K. (Animoca Brands Japan), a strategic subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Web3 firm Animoca Brands Corporation Limited (Animoca Brands), has on Friday announced that it made a strategic investment of JP¥100 million ($774,230) into Psychic VR Lab’s JP¥1 billion ($7.74 million) fundraising round in December 2022.

The investment followed a collaboration with Psychic VR Lab in June 2022, Animoca Brands said in a statement.

With the vision of ‘realizing the world where people wear a space’, Psychic VR is a leader in the XR (extended reality) field in Japan, operating the XR creative platform “STYLY” that is used by more than 50,000 artists worldwide with a viewer app that has been downloaded 5 million times.

It has become an important part of infrastructure in the XR era, where the virtual world and the real world merge.

“Looking ahead, the possibilities of real space will be expanded by XR technology, and the value of all urban spaces such as buildings’ atriums and parks will increase with the addition of virtual versions. It will be possible to bring media and entertainment attributes into these spaces,” said Kyoya Okazawa, the Co-Founder of Animoca Brands Japan.

“Through this partnership, we will create new economic opportunities on these digital twins by connecting them with Animoca Brands’ global Web3 ecosystem of over 400 companies, and leverage content from our partner IP holders,” he added.

Psychic VR Lab Chief Executive Officer Masahiro Yamaguchi said with the investment from Animoca Brands, a leader in the Web3 ecosystem, the firm is going to accelerate the creation of “Real Metaverse” with its real metaverse platform STYLY.

“We believe that the evolution of technology in the XR / Web3 field will not only change the structure of modern society, but will also fundamentally change people’s lifestyles as a movement of world creation in the history of mankind. We hope to play a great role in this major turning point of history,” he said.

Founded in 2021, Animoca Brands Japan was established to support the global Web 3.0 strategies of Japanese intellectual property and content holders such as major publishers, brands, education, sports / athletes, artists and game companies.

Specifically, it provides a platform that combines IPs with blockchain technology, and supports IP holders to build their own ecosystem in the Web3.0 world through a full stack of Web3.0 services, linking the bridge between Japanese IPs and global fans.

Animoca Brands Japan advances the mission of Animoca Brands and aims to build a Web3 ecosystem in Japan with partner companies and portfolio companies such as Psychic VR Lab.

Like its parent company, Animoca Brands Japan envisions Web3 as a more equitable virtual society thanks to its characteristic of enabling true digital ownership for individuals, which the company believes offers significant economic opportunities in Japan and beyond.

Animoca Brands Japan intends to continue contributing to the advancement of Web3 by making strategic investments in the industry.

Founded in 2016, Psychic VR Lab’s vision is to make all humans awake their psychic power with VR. Its flagship platform ‘STYLY’ is a VR creative platform to provide artists with the place for three-dimensional expression.

By utilizing STYLY, creators can make various spaces to render their imaginations limitlessly such as a conceptual shopping space, installation art and gallery.

Through those spaces, users can share the experience that the reality has never seen up until now, with the internet world.

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