Metaverse BUD app raises another $37 million, plans to launch NFTs – TechCrunch

buda startup app that took a shot at creating the metaverse for Generation Z to play and interact with each other, has raised another round of funding within three months.

The Singapore-based startup told TechCrunch that it closed $36.8 million in a Series B round led by Sequoia Capital India, shortly after it secured the Series A extension. in february. The new leak brings BUD’s total funding to more than $60 million.

As with previous BUD rounds, this round of increase has attracted a handful of prominent China-focused investors – partners ClearVue, NetEase and Northern Light Venture Capital. Its current investors GGV Capital, Qiming Venture Partners and Source Code Capital also participated in the round.

Founded by two ex-Snap engineers, Risa Feng and Shawn Lin in 2019, BUD allows users to create 3D bloated characters, engaging virtual assets, and colorful experiences through drag and drop and without any coding background.

The company declined to reveal the size of its active user, but said its users have created more than 15 million personalized experiences, that is, virtual spaces with gameplay that others can join since the app launched in November. Virtual assets, including costumes and accessories designed by users for characters, have changed over 150 million times in the BUD market.

Obviously, these transactions are a promising way to generate revenue, but BUD does not charge commissions at the moment. Nor has it started monetizing by other means through the app.

Perhaps due in part to its free to use and ad-free nature, the app has been among the top 10 social apps in nearly 40 countries across North America, Southeast Asia, and South America. It is currently the best free social app for Android in Thailand And VietnamAccording to market intelligence firm SensorTower.

Apps like Roblox and South Korea’s zebito It also made it easier for anyone to design characters and virtual spaces. BUD is taking the user experience a step further with plans to introduce a marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This means that the ownership of virtual items sold on BUD will be recorded on the blockchain. It is likely that digital assets can be resold in the form of NFTs, which can be more easily validated and sourced.

BUD declined to reveal what chain the NFT project will run on or what tokens it will use, but said the market will “live soon.”

“While BUD makes 3D content creation possible for ordinary consumers of Generation Z, we will continue to bring blockchain to ordinary consumers and allow our creators to truly own and monetize their creativity,” Lin said in a statement.

The company is expanding rapidly and has a team of 130 employees spread across its headquarters in Singapore as well as its offices in Shenzhen and the United States.