London startup Hadean has raised £4.1 million in funding ‘to supercharge the metaverse’.
The backing, from new Web3, gaming and enterprise global investors, will facilitate the rapid build-out of the company’s metaverse infrastructure solution.
It says this is a critical component for the creation of immersive vast virtual worlds for training and entertainment, and data-driven digital twins for enterprise.
Hadean’s technology has been used to power large-scale applications including the EVE Online Aether Wars space battle event in 2020, in partnership with game developers CCP Games, and a city-sized digital replication of Estonia, in partnership with training and simulation specialists CAE – both enabling massive amounts of concurrent users and unlocking new tools for users, creators and decision-makers.
More recently the company also partnered with Connected Places Catapult to develop a next-generation eHighways digital twin simulation to help boost sustainability in modern transportation.
The funding from Ericsson Ventures – the venture arm of 5G infrastructure provider Ericsson – Metrea Discovery, VU Venture Partners, Sanctor Capital and Tirta Ventures complements the company’s £28m Series A investment round, completed in September 2022, which was led by Molten Ventures and joined by Epic Games, 2050 Capital, Alumni Ventures, Aster Capital, Entrepreneur First and InQTel.
“We are thrilled to have the support of such a diverse and experienced group of investors,” said Hadean CEO Craig Beddis. “This additional funding will enable us to continue the significant progress we have made off the back of our Series A and expedite the advancement of our cloud-based solutions for the metaverse.
“Our objective is to bridge physical and virtual worlds to improve decision-making, support the creator economy and, ultimately, enhance the quality of life in the real world.
“We believe that the metaverse’s true success and widespread adoption depend on the creators’ ability to build their own experiences at scale, using open and robust metaverse-as-a-service technologies.”
Paul McNamara, VP of corporate development at Ericsson Ventures, said: “The Metaverse is one of the most important 5G use cases. Hadean provides a scalable, proven infrastructure to power the future of the metaverse.
“Together with 5G, Hadean will unlock unlimited possibilities within the metaverse. Ericsson Ventures is excited to support Hadean in its journey to further drive the immersive experience for both enterprises and consumers.”