Land sales in virtual worlds such as The Sandbox (CRYPTO: SAND) and Decentraland (CRYPTO: MANA) have skyrocketed over the past year. One company is attracting investments from big investors and celebrities as it buys up virtual land and attempts to be a huge company inside the metaverse.
What Happened: Everyrealm announced a new round of funding this week. The company is one of several buying up land inside the metaverse as a bet on growth in the sector over the next few years.
New investors in the company included Will Smith, Marc Anthony, The Weeknd and German soccer player Mario Götze.
The investments add to the company's impressive pool of other well-known backers, which includes Paris Hilton, Nas, Lil Baby and Gene Simmons.
Outside of celebrities, backers of Everyrealm include the Andreessen Horowitz a16z crypto fund, Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN), Dapper Labs, Lightspeed Venture Partners and The Sandbox parent Animoca Brands.
Film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, who co-founded Dreamworks Animation and is a former chairman of Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) unit Walt Disney Studios is also an investor in the company.
“Having such an accomplished roster of people on our cap table is an honor and a testament to the allure of the metaverse opportunity, one where artists and entertainers can foster direct connections with their communities,” Everyrealm CEO Janine Yorio said.
The valuation of the company was not disclosed, but Everyrealm told Decrypt the company is valued at “hundreds of millions” of dollars.
Related Link: Investing In Coinbase, Robinhood Early: Is Nas The Best Rapper Turned Investor?
Why It’s Important: Previously known as Republic Realm, Everyrealm is the name of the spun-off company is actively buying up plots of land inside virtual worlds including The Sandbox and Decentraland.
Everyrealm owns more than 3,000 NFTs of virtual land on over 25 metaverse platforms. The company has begun developing housing developments in several of the virtual worlds.
The company launched a Fantasy Islands resort project in The Sandbox with over 100 “villas” and sold a yacht in The Sandbox for 149 Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).
Virtual land sold as NFTs hit $501 million in 2021 according to MetaMetric Solutions.
Several celebrities including Snoop Dogg and Hilton have launched partnerships and land sales with metaverse companies such as The Sandbox.
Surging interest in metaverse companies and NFTs sent the prices of The Sandbox and Decentraland native tokens higher in 2021.
Price Action, per Benzinga Pro: The Sandbox token is trading at $3.49 at the time of writing versus a 52-week range of $0.1471 to $8.44.
The Decentraland token is trading at $2.64 versus a 52-week range of $0.3737 to $5.90.
Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Creative Commons
