Quick take:
- Soul Machines has completed a $70M Series B1 funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
- The digital avatars design platform wants to advance its Digital Brain technology to re-invent interactive experiences in the metaverse.
- Soul Machines is creating the infrastructure that will be used by organisations to populate the metaverse with digital workers.
Leading digital avatars design technology Soul Machines on Monday announced the successful fundraising of $70 million in a Series B1 led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The company is pioneering a revolutionary technology that will autonomously create digital people in the metaverse.
Soul Machines thinks every organisation will have a digital representation of itself in the metaverse in the near future. The company will provide the technology needed to onboard the immersive 3D worlds with a digital workforce.
Its latest funding round attracted a raft of new investors including Cleveland Avenue, Liberty City Ventures and Solasta Ventures, while Temasek, Salesforce Ventures and Horizons Ventures were among the existing investors involved in the fundraising.
Greg Cross and Academy Award winner Mark Sagar founded Soul Machines in 2016 with the goal of re-inventing communications in the evolving business world. The company thinks digital people will help brands offer the best customer experience in the digital world where people will be doing business, working, and playing.
Soul Machines plans to use the latest investment to accelerate growth in the enterprise market with a keen focus on continuing with intensive research on its Digital Brain technology.
The company wants to use the technology to re-invent digital entertainment in the metaverse, by creating hyper-realistic digital twins of real-life celebrities.
Commenting on the fundraising, Greg Cross, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer, Soul Machines said he was thrilled to be working with brands that understand the importance of digital people to communicate, interact and engage with the world.
“We are in a transformational era where brands need to introduce different ways of personalization and ways to deliver unique brand experiences to customers in a very transactional digital world.”
On the other hand, Anna Lo, Investment Director at SoftBank Advisers highlighted the increased investment in artificial intelligence technologies that can create an intimate, personalized experience with their customers at scale.
“With strong R&D capabilities and advanced back-end solutions, we believe that Soul Machines is at the cutting edge for creating digital people that can support companies across functions including customer service, training and entertainment.”
Soul Machines’ partnerships include some of the leading global brands with its focus on revolutionizing customer experience by offering highly personalised brand experiences at scale a major selling point. The company claims its technology collects customer insights in a way never seen before.
Twitch, WHO, Nestle, P&G and Toll House are among brands that have partnered with Soul Machines, with Carmelo Anthony among the celebrities.
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