‘China is steady if it invests $ 60 million to enter the metaverse, near Malaysia it wants to buy a RM800 laptop and also has to sell my sister’s gold bracelet.’
Alibaba led an investment group that invested $ 60 million in the manufacture of Augmented Reality (AR) glasses for a new technology company, Nreal, in preparation for entering the metaverse.
Nreal is working on 2 AR spectacle technologies named ‘Light’ and ‘Water’, which allow users to access games or movies from digital image generation to the real world.
It is common knowledge that the use of AR technology plays an important role in accessing the metaverse world popularized by a western company, Meta Platforms Inc.
It is said that Chinese tech giants such as Tencent to Alibaba are racing to apply the metaverse into their business.
As a result, Nreal, which is working to realize a metaverse plan in China, needs $ 60 million in funding for research, development and accelerating its expansion into new markets this year.
To the best of my knowledge, Nreal has sold its products in several markets including South Korea, Japan, Spain and the United States (US).
Citing a CNBC report, the Beijing -based company’s plans have attracted the attention of many high -profile investors.
Among them, Nreal revealed last September that it received $ 100 million in funding from Nio Capital, the investment arm of electric car maker Nio and capital firm, Sequoia Capital China.
However, Nreal did not disclose the current value after Alibaba’s investment, yet based on previous values, the company may have already raised $ 700 million.
In addition, Kuaishou and iQiyi are also seen investing in the Nreal plan.
Meanwhile, Alibaba’s investment into Nreal hints at collaboration between the two companies in joint venture deals, such as the collaboration of Nreal and Nio which manufactured AR glasses for electric cars last year.
The investment by Alibaba is seen as being made while Chinese regulators are scrutinizing the business practices of the tech giant in the country.
