Quick take:
- UK’s Hiro Capital has launched a €300M venture fund to invest in metaverse and gaming projects.
- The venture capital firm says it will target companies in the UK, Europe and North America.
- The London-based tech VC previously raised €115M, investing in 21 Series A and B rounds for metaverse, eSports and gaming companies since 2019.
The UK’s Hiro Capital has announced a €300 million Venture II Fund that will invest in metaverse and blockchain gaming projects. The London-based tech-VC said it will focus on companies based in the UK, Europe and North America.
Hiro Capital Venture I Fund launched in 2019 has already invested in 21 Series A and B funding rounds for companies operating in the metaverse, gaming, and eSports markets. Some of the funding rounds Hiro participated in include fundraising by locally based virtual reality firm FitXR and Frankfurt-based developer studio Keen Games.
Hiro Capital will announce the first investments made by its newly launched fund in April. The firm has focused on metaverse related projects since its inception in 2018. Although there is no clear definition yet, the metaverse is a Web3-based technology that allows people to interact in virtual 3D spaces.
The term was popularised by Facebook last October when it rebranded to Meta Platforms as part of its strategy to move in a different direction away from a social network driven by advertisements to a conglomerate of immersive platforms that will usher in the future social interactions and communication.
Speaking following the announcement, Luke Alvarez, managing general partner, Hiro Capital said the firm has believed in the metaverse since 2018, adding that the goal of Hiro Capital “is to bring founder-focused venture funding to games studios and metaverse technology creators.”
However, Alvarez was quick to note that the metaverse, AR/VR, and Web3 won’t realise their full potential until at least a decade from now. “Much of the creativity and technology innovation will start in games,” he said.
Alvarez helped found Hiro Capital with LoveCrafts co-founder Cherry Freeman and Sir Ian Livingstone, who also founded the developer studio behind Lara Croft: Tomb Raider game.
Industry experts view gaming as the primary driver of the metaverse opportunity, with global computing giant Microsoft gobbling $69 billion to buy Activision Blizzard.
UK’s Entain Group recently said it is investing £100 million in an innovation hub in London that will trial and entertainment technologies including the metaverse and NFTs.
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