Niantic announced today that they received a $300 million investment at a $9 billion valuation to help build its Real-World Metaverse. The investment was made by Coatue, a privately-owned hedge fund sponsor.

Niantic is Building the Real-World Metaverse

According to the official announcement:

“Niantic will use the funds to invest in current games and new apps, expand the Lightship developer platform, and build out its vision for the Real-World Metaverse.”

Niantic is looking to build a future where the real world is overlaid with digital items, making the world we’re so used to more magical, fun and informative.

The software development company aims to achieve their vision by building a platform for AR applications that is based on a 3D map of the world.

The recent $300 million investment comes amid Niantic’s Lightship’s release earlier in the month. Lightship is an Augmented Reality Developer Kit (ARDR), that helps developers start building applications for the AR environment.

Niantic Is Hopping on the Metaverse Trend

After Mark Zuckerberg bet Facebook’s future on the Metaverse, we’ve been seeing a multitude of major companies hop on board.

For example, in a tweet earlier today, Adidas hinted at a potential collaboration with The Sandbox

With a $9 billion valuation, Niantic is setting itself to be a major player in the Metaverse market. It only makes sense for a successful game development company to take lead on building a next-generation immersive experience to inspire people to explore the world.

The recent $300 million investment is Niantic’s fifth round of investments. Their previous round of investments was in Jan 2019, and raised $243 million at a $3.7 billion valuation. The recent $9 billion valuation means Niantic almost tripled in value over the past two years.

Niantic’s incredible valuation goes to show the potential of AR technology, and the receptiveness of consumers to a well-executed Augmented Reality project.

While it’s too early to speculate as to when Niantic will unveil their Real-World Metaverse, 2022 looks to be a good year for the software development company. The Metaverse hype is only expected to pick up next year, which is why we’re seeing major brands hopping on board.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your own research before buying any cryptocurrency.

Follow us on twitter @themerklehash to stay up to date with the latest cryptocurrency news!