Journey, an extended reality (XR) consultancy building next-generation experiences for clients and brands, rang the bell at the opening of the Nasdaq on Friday in both the physical and virtual world.
Jim Cramer, CNBC host of Mad Money and anchor for Squawk on the Street, joined the activity as an avatar. Journey also teamed up with Manticore Games Inc along with Nasdaq for the first-ever event.
The news comes as Journey, a New York, New York-based firm, aims to boost its market presence and XR technologies to “create meaningful experiences for real people,” Cathy Hackl, Co-Founder and Chief Metaverse Officer for Journey, veteran XR author, and speaker said in a LinkedIn post.
She continued, stating,
“As the co-founder of new a multi-million dollar company, I’m not the typical face you see representing technology. [That’s] why it’s important for everyone to know that the future is for all of us. Let’s not seek to define the metaverse, but let’s build it and create it together”
The ‘Godmother of the Metaverse’ added she was “thrilled” to reveal her enterprise had launched its Metaverse Studio with a team of “game developers, strategists, technologies and futurists that are helping brands navigate the Metaverse.”
The event marks the first time the Nasdaq bell had been open in both worlds and came ahead of the NFT.NYC event in New York City.
The tech convention will take place from 20 to 23 June and aims to showcase some of the XR industry’s top talent in non-fungible token (NFT) design, creation, curation, and hosting.
The news comes as Journey embarked on its own with fresh efforts in late to boost its operations and empower clients after acquiring ICRAVE, Skilled Created, and the Futures Intelligence Group.
Andrew Zimmerman, the firm’s Chief Executive and former CEO to frog Design, explained to XR Today the acquisition aimed to build its gaming and immersive creative capabilities with “leading-edge studios.”
He concluded the Futurescape, or vision of the future Metaverse, would involve clients and customer journeys that would develop at an “exponential speed” due to technologies such as virtual reality (VR), blockchain, and learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, among others.
