On Monday, BUD, a Metaverse powered by user-generated content (UGC), raised $38.6 million USD in a Series B funding round led by Sequoia Capital India with help from ClearVue Partners, NetEase and Northern Light Venture Capital.
Investment firms GGV Capital, Qiming Venture Partners and Source Code Capital also provided additional funding assistance, and the awarded capital enables BUD to improve its UGC tools, expand its global user base, introduce in-Metaverse products, and debut an integrated NFT marketplace.
The Bud Metaverse focuses on a Gen Z user base familiar with existing Web3 services such as Roblox, with localisation plans targeting global audiences.
William Chen, Founding Managing Partner of ClearVue Partners, explained that Gen Z demographics were experiencing an “explosive growth” of interest in emerging Metaverse platforms and saw BUD as a leader in the marketplace.
Chen added,
“We are excited to work with this innovative team and to bring together our resources and experience in the global consumer, media, and entertainment industries”
Since BUD’s launch in November 2021, the service has become a top 10 social media application in 38 countries across North America, Southeast Asia, and South America.
Giving UGC Tools to Younger Audiences
Similar to platforms such as Horizon Worlds, Decentraland, and UPWorlds, BUD supplies its user base with tools to create and monetise Metaverse content.
Unlike other platforms, BUD introduces its no-code content creation tools to the Gen-Z demographic to teach younger users about Web 3.0 and prepare them for emerging Metaverse services and the future of work.
The BUD creator community has already produced more than 15 million immersive experiences and assets for the Metaverse service. Additionally, users have traded BUD content up to 150 million times, painting a bright future for the platform’s upcoming NFT marketplace.
In the future, the company’s younger user base will gain access to tools enabling blockchain-based content creation and monetisation.
BUD Co-Founder Shawn Lin, explained,
“While BUD makes 3D content creation possible for mainstream Gen-Z consumers, we will continue to bring blockchain to mainstream consumers and allow our creators to truly own and monetize their creations”
Former Snap engineers Shawn Lin and Risa Feng founded the BUD Metaverse with plans to give immersive technology like NFTs, the blockchain, and virtual reality UGC tools to Gen Z audiences.
This month, Snap hosted its annual summit, where the firm debuted new augmented reality (AR) hardware and software, most notably a trove of AR development tools to assist inexperienced individuals or groups in understanding the technology.
The Santa Monica-based firm unveiled additional tools and resources for Lens Studio, Camera Kit, and the Spectacles SDK for new users and third-party development teams, as well as Focus, an enterprise-grade learning hub for AR technology.
