BUD, a nascent application that is trying to create a metaverse for Gen Z to play and interact with each other, has raised another round of funding for three months.
The Singapore-based startup told TechCrunch that it closed $ 36.8 million in a Serie B round led by Sequoia Capital India after failing to secure a Serie A extension in February. The new infusion brings total BUD funding to over $ 60 million.
As in previous rounds of BUD, this round of promotion attracted a handful of prominent investors focused on China – ClearVue Partners, NetEase and Northern Light Venture Capital. Its existing investors GGV Capital, Qiming Venture Partners and Source Code Capital also participated in the round.
Founded by two former Snap engineers Risa Feng and Sean Lin in 2019, BUD allows users to create bulbous 3D characters, cute virtual assets and richly colored experiences by drag-and-drop and no background coding.
The company declined to disclose its active user size, but said its users have created more than 15 million personalized experiences. virtual spaces with gameplay that others can join after the app launches in November. Virtual assets, including costumes and accessories that users design for characters, have changed hands more than 150 million times in the BUD market.
These transactions are obviously a promising way to generate revenue, but BUD does not charge commissions yet. Nor has it begun to generate revenue in other ways through the app.
Perhaps in part due to its free to use and ad-free nature, the app is among the top 10 social apps in nearly 40 countries in North America, Southeast Asia and South America. It is currently the best free social app for Android in Thailand and Vietnam, according to market intelligence company SensorTower.
Applications such as Roblox and Zepeto from South Korea have also made it easier for everyone to design virtual characters and spaces. BUD is taking the consumer experience one step further with its plans to introduce an irreplaceable token (NFT) market. This means that the ownership of the virtual items sold on BUD will be recorded in the blockchain. The resale of digital assets is likely to be possible in the form of NFT, the authenticity and origin of which can be more easily verified.
The story continues
BUD declined to say which chain the NFT project will be on or what tokens it will use, but said the market “will be live soon”.
“While BUD makes it possible to create 3D content for Generation Z mass users, we will continue to offer the blockchain to the mass consumer and allow our creators to truly own and monetize their creations,” Lynn said in a statement.
The company is expanding rapidly and has a team of 130 employees based at its headquarters in Singapore, as well as offices in Shenzhen and the United States.
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