Alibaba makes metaverse bet in China’s magic leap rival

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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. led a US$60mil (RM252.24mil) funding in Chinese augmented actuality glasses maker Nreal, becoming a member of rivals Tencent Holdings Ltd. and ByteDance Ltd. to stake a declare in the way forward for the metaverse.

The ​​so-called Series C+ funding spherical brings the full Nreal raised inside 12 months to US$200mil (RM840.8mil), the Beijing outfit mentioned in a press release, with out disclosing its newest valuation.

The startup was valued at US$700mil (RM2942.8mil) in a earlier spherical introduced in September 2021, CNBC reported on the time, citing an unnamed supply.

Alibaba’s funding follows related strikes by different Chinese web giants eyeing the metaverse, a possible future model of the web that blends features of digital actuality, social media and different digital applied sciences.

Last 12 months, TikTok proprietor ByteDance purchased digital actuality gear maker Pico, and Tencent is nearing a deal to accumulate gaming handset startup Black Shark, Bloomberg reported in January.

Nreal was based in 2017 by Xu Chi, a former engineer with American AR startup Magic Leap Inc.

In 2019, Magic Leap filed a lawsuit towards Xu, accusing him of stealing the corporate’s secrets and techniques, however a US decide later dominated in Nreal’s favor and the case was dropped.

Alibaba invested in Magic Leap as early as 2016, when the corporate was among the many most extremely touted US startups, with backers corresponding to Alphabet Inc. But the Florida-based firm struggled to promote its shopper headset and has since pivoted to enterprise providers.

Nreal now has almost 400 staff and has offered its glasses via carriers together with Verizon Communications Inc. in the US, the startup mentioned.

Its traders embrace big-name enterprise companies and different tech giants, corresponding to Kuaishou Technology, iQiyi Inc., Sequoia China, Hillhouse and Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital. – Bloomberg



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