Quick take:
- French insurance company Axa has purchased digital land in the metaverse.
- The multinational insurer announced on Friday that it had acquired a virtual plot in The Sandbox.
- The company said it wants to familiarise itself with the highly hyped virtual world.
Multinational insurance company Axa has jumped into the metaverse craze by purchasing a virtual plot of land in the Sandbox. The company said the decision was driven by the need to familiarise itself with the activities of the metaverse.
Axa wants to gauge the business opportunity there and captivate a technological image with a view to future recruitment. “What is important for us is to learn to understand,” Patrick Cohen, general manager of Axa France, explained to AFP.
Although there is no clear definition of the metaverse yet, the most common description is that it is a network of interconnected virtual worlds created using advanced 3D imagery on a decentralised infrastructure.
Dubbed as the future of the internet, Web3 has become the focal point of several technology companies, and now, one of its most popular concepts is drawing interest from other industries.
Axa wants to seize the explosive growth of the metaverse by setting up a virtual agency dedicated to the virtual world.
Writing in a press release sent to media houses, Axa said, “[the metaverse] provides numerous meeting and interaction opportunities to drive the Axa technology, digital, and data community of more than 2,000 people.”
The company has partnered with Excelsior Metaverse Gaming Studio to develop its virtual plot.
Patrick Cohen, CEO of Axa France, said it is the company’s responsibility to embrace emerging technologies to secure its future.
“We are only at the beginning of the metaverse, so we want to learn and give ourselves the means to learn about these platforms and communities as soon as possible.”
The metaverse became a global trend last October when Facebook rebranded to Meta Platforms, signalling its planned change of direction.
Initially, US brands led the adoption of the new buzzword, either filing for patents or launching virtual products. However, Europe appears to be accelerating its delayed leap into the virtual world, with several EU-based brands like Gucci and Roberto Cavalli announcing their products.
Axa is a publicly listed company with a market capitalisation of EUR 65 billion, making it one of the largest insurance companies in the world.
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