Ripple Labs and crypto investment firm 10T are investing $54 million into Futureverse, a crypto technology and artificial intelligence (AI) gaming startup.
According to a new announcement, Futureverse to use the funds for research and development, including advancing its technology called the Root Network.
The Root Network is a blockchain and suite of protocols with “ready-made runtimes” for building metaverse apps, games and experiences, and already allows for integration with Ripple’s XRP LEDGER (XRPL).
Futureverse, which was formed last year by combining 11 startup tech firms, is developing projects that combine AI and blockchain technology for users in the metaverse.
The group’s popular products include FLUF World, a non-fungible token (NFT) collection of cartoon rabbits; AI League, a mobile soccer game licensed by soccer’s governing body, FIFA; and the AI boxing game Muhammad Ali: The Next Legends.
Says Ripple’s president Monica Long,
“While we’re at the earliest stages of what a project like this – and really the larger concept of the metaverse – can achieve, we at Ripple are thrilled to contribute to the foundational infrastructure layer and provide real utility to the end users of the open metaverse.”
Dan Tapiero, 10T CEO, predicts Futureverse will “achieve significant real-world commercial traction.”
Tapiero’s 10T, which has $1.2 billion in assets under management, recently launched a crypto private equity fund backed by hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard, among other prominent investors.
Says Tapiero,
“Futureverse has developed an immersive and vertically-integrated metaverse platform that acts as an AI technology provider, metaverse infrastructure builder, layer 1 architect, creative studio, and digital community all-in-one.”
