What’s the Metaverse?
The term was first coined by Neal Stephenson in his novel Snow Crash. In the book and is described as a three-dimensional virtual world where people can interact with each other and with computer-generated characters.
According to Bloomberg Intelligence, The metaverse market has been forecast to be worth $800bn by 2024 and Metaverse mergers and acquisitions totalled $77bn in the past 18 months, According to GlobalData.
“Over the past year and a half, metaverse mergers and acquisitions have already totaled $77 billion. The potential for economies of scale is enormous in what may be the most significant digital transformation in the last two decades. There is a tremendous opportunity for product design, user experiences, and everything else that makes it possible. Buyers are targeting everything from video game makers to virtual reality headset makers.
For example, Microsoft is currently working a deal to spend nearly $70 billion on the acquisition of video gaming company Activision Blizzard, calling it a “building block for the metaverse.” So, that’s one deal that is almost the total M&A deal value over the last 18 months. That’s just one example of how M&A in this space is no joke.
The metaverse is not just about gaming platforms, though. Workplace collaboration is also a major strategy. This past spring, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) bought EON Reality for $655 million. EON offers virtual reality solutions for 3D offices. Dating is also a popular realm in the metaverse. Last year, the Match Group bought Hyperconnect for $1.725 billion. Hyperconnect is a video messaging and social media firm, and the acquisition is designed to create a single virtual space where single people can meet. And VR hardware providers are also getting plenty of attention.
In August of last year, ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) bought VR headset manufacturer Pico Interactive for $700 million. Pico was the world’s third-largest VR headset maker in Q1 of 2021”. Says Benchmark International
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Sebastian Amieva
Investor / M&A Expert / Mentor