"Andreessen Horowitz, SoftBank Lead $150M Raise for Metaverse Startup Improbable
The multiplayer services provider is accelerating its push into the metaverse."..
"Metaverse technology firm Improbable has raised $150 million led by Andreessen Horowitz and SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 to build a "network of interoperable Web 3 metaverses," dubbed M² "
"Digital Currency Group – CoinDesk's parent company – Mirana Ventures, SIG, Ethereal Ventures and CMT Digital, the crypto division of trading firm CMT Group, also participated in the round.".. 🤔
"Improbable describes itself as a provider of technology and services to support multiplayer virtual worlds to more than 60 global game publishers. Its large scale simulation platform also supports the U.K.'s defense mission.."..👀👀
Founded in 2012 by Herman Narula , Peter Lipka , and Rob Whitehead
"“M²’s technology enables developers to build and scale composable metaverses, solving a core need for our founders within the Alliance accelerator”, said Imran Khan, contributor at AllianceDAO ...".. coindesk.com/business/2022/…
"Among the investors supporting M² are also Saranac partners, a private office for entrepreneurs and family capital, notably including Round13 DAF, Zinal Growth, the tech investment vehicle of Guillaume Pousaz, David E. Rutter." 🤔
Just putting this here for later🤫
R3 at the PGA
"Geneva-born entrepreneur Guillaume Pousaz and founder of the start-up Checkout.com has a net worth of $23 billion (CHF22 billion). His company, which is headquartered in London, has the highest market capitalization in the global fintech sector."
"Pousaz founded Checkout.com, a start-up specialised in payment transactions, in London in 2012. Since then, the company’s growth has been phenomenal. It provides services to the likes of Netflix , Pizza Hut, Adidas and Sony..".. 🍿🍿🍿
"In January 2022, it raised $1 billion in capital from big-name investors such as Franklin Resources and Tiger Global Management, bringing the start-up’s valuation to around $40 billion."..
"In addition to retailers, the company’s client base includes leading fintechs such as Sweden’s Klarna and Britain’s Revolut [I just knew it🤡😂🤦]
as well as the cryptocurrency trading platforms Coinbase (U.S.) and Crypto.com (Singapore).."..
"The start-up’s origins can be traced back to an earlier company, Opus Payments, founded by Pousaz in Singapore in 2009 to process payments for businesses in Hong Kong. ."..
"The firm became profitable in 2011 following an agreement with the Chinese website Dealextreme .. In 2012, Opus Payments was rebranded as Checkout.com and registered in the United Kingdom..".. archive.is/lvUYl
"Another breakthrough came about in 2013, when the company gained Visa and Mastercard membership."..
"By now, aiming for a stock market listing, the company had distanced itself from the pornography and gambling customers present at the beginning of its history."
Wait , what?
"in its early days, Checkout worked with clients that provide adults-only services including pornography and gambling, which at one point accounted for a significant amount of business, according to people familiar with the matter." - Bloomberg bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
"The clients included companies like MindGeek SARL, the owner of websites like Pornhub.com, OnlyFans Ltd. and MondoCamGirls, a website that allows users to pay for live feeds of sexual content, the people said."
"Sam "The Fat Man" Cagnina III (1935-2010) allegedly was an associate of the Trafficante crime family. Cagnina was born on December 13, 1935, in Tampa. Sam's father (Sam Cagnina Jr) was a crooked cop and an associate of the Trafficante crime family"
Grok :"her exit came a day after X’s AI chatbot, Grok, posted antisemitic comments, prompting speculation abt a connection, though a source familiar with the matter indicated her departure was planned for over a week & not directly tied to the incident"🎶
The Office of Space Commerce’s Traffic Coordination System for Space, or TraCSS, has announced the significant expansion of its cooperative research and development agreement, or CRADA, with SpaceX.🤔
Under the CRADA, In February 2024, SpaceX oversees the development of the automated collision avoidance technology. OSC is tasked with conducting an astrodynamics evaluation of the software, including satellite conjunction evaluation screenings. executivebiz.com/articles/space…
“SpaceX is advancing the state of the art in space operations, using software in support of automated collision avoidance to safely manage thousands of satellites at a time,” said OSC Director Richard DalBello. weforum.org/stories/author…