Virtual events platform Flox has raised £1 million to speed up its tech development and publicly launch.
The UK-based team plans to enable brands and institutions to host events of up 100,000 attendees, offering a huge sustainability olive branch as well as an opportunity to slash travel costs, whilst maintaining the social connection necessary for collaboration.
Already piloted globally with three Fortune 500 organisations, including beverage giant Molson Coors, it is currently hosting events of up to 25,000 attendees, and doing bespoke builds of digital twins for corporate global headquarters and university campuses for international students.
The London company was started by two ad industry leaders, Alistair Bryan and Jaie Genadt (below), formerly of Havas, IPG and Omnicom.
The idea is to facilitate social connection by offering a platform that is far superior to 2D digital alternatives – or the likes of Zoom – by offering an experience that’s as close to in-person as you can get digitally.
Attendees move their digital avatars, personalised to their face with scanning technology, while the in-built AI helps to introduce you to relevant people for meaningful conversations. None of this requires VR headsets, and can be done on your usual digital device, be it tablet or laptop.
The model, which can replace or complement real life events for a physical-digital ‘hybrid’ model, enables instant translation, conversation transcribing, data capture and limitless space, as well as participation stimuli to drive engagement – for example live polls and moderated Q&As.
In addition to events, companies and universities can create ‘digital twins’, online replicas of their buildings, in order to host staff or students, where they can be virtually present.
“Virtual events and experiences are here to stay. For brands and businesses, who want to be part of the metaverse today, Flox is here to help them with our 3D virtual events platform, focused on human connection and engagement,” said Bryan.
“Companies and brands we are talking to see the huge potential for virtual experiences and events for their consumers, employees, attendees and at the same time are conscious of reaching a global audience, reducing their carbon impact, supporting diversity, reducing their costs and measuring the effectiveness of their spend.”
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