GoHub Ventures enters the metaverse investing in Union Avatars
The startup, capable of creating realistic avatars in seconds for metaverse platforms and videogames, closes a EUR €1.2M funding round
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Union Avatars, a company dedicated to creating avatars for the metaverse, has raised 1.2 million euros in a funding round that has been led by the venture capital manager Inveready and Fi Group, a consultancy specialized in advising companies on the management of R&D financing.
In addition, partners such as GoHub Ventures — corporate venturing fund of Global Omnium — , Outlier Ventures — one of the most prestigious Web3 accelerators in the world — , or Inlea have participated in the capital increase. Along with them, other private investors such as Rat Gasol or Carlos Solana have been present, providing credibility and seniority to Union Avatars from the beginning due to his long business career in the world of innovation, digital business and entrepreneurship. The resources obtained will be used mainly for product development, international expansion and talent.
The company, founded in 2020 by Cai Felip and Jordi Conejero, arose from the idea of uniting the real world with the new digital worlds that now converge in the Metaverse. Now Union Avatars is taking a new step towards Web3, that is, the integration of avatars for the metaverse into the blockchain.
Felip has been present in the blockchain world since 2014, long before even the great interest that the term Metaverse has obtained. The founder and CEO of Union Avatars explains that “the big change is to have an avatar that is like a passport to any metaverse and this is possible thanks to this new integration that we are doing with Web3”.
This is the reason why the company, located in Barcelona, plans to launch UnionID, an Digital Identity project with which users will be able to have a totally secure identification system with absolute control over their privacy. Felip affirms that “UnionID will be a 100% secure identification card that will allow us to log in to different platforms without exposing our data and to be able to take our digital assets with us from platform to platform while maintaining absolute control of our privacy. Imagine that you can choose different images to show yourself on your social networks or meetings, but you can also take your favourite virtual shirt from one place to another. And all this without anyone being able to know or sell your data’’.
Currently, the team is made up of 22 people and already has more than 30 clients around the world. The main pain is the representation of people in the Metaverse, so the business is mainly based on B2B, although with the integration in Web3 and the UnionID project, the plan is to focus on the final user.
For 2023, the founders anticipate another funding round to continue growing in this incipient universe. The company has recognized advisors such as Jean Clauteaux, former CEO and Zone Manager of L’Oreal; Simonetta Lulli, former Vice President of Habbo; Fraser Edwards, CEO of Cheqd or Carles Reina, who has been part of companies such as Uber, Sonantic o Tractable.
