Animoca Brands Japan invests in Psychic VR Lab

Animoca Brands Japan, a strategic subsidiary of Hong Kong blockchain company Animoca Brands, has made a strategic investment of JP¥100 million (around US$770,000) into Psychic VR Lab’s JP¥1 billion fundraising round in December 2022.

The investment followed a collaboration with Psychic VR Lab, a leading XR developer in Japan which operates the XR platform “STYLY,” during the NFT.NYC event in June 2022. 

According to Psychic VR, its vision is to “realize the world where people wear a space.” The “STYLY” platform is used by more than 50,000 artists worldwide with a viewer app that has been downloaded 5 million times. Using STYLY, creators can make various spaces to render their imaginations limitlessly such as a conceptual shopping space, installation art and gallery.

Kyoya Okazawa, the co-founder of Animoca Brands Japan (also known as Animoca Brands K.K.), said in a January 13 statement: “Looking ahead, the possibilities of real space will be expanded by XR technology, and the value of all urban spaces such as buildings’ atriums and parks will increase with the addition of virtual versions. It will be possible to bring media and entertainment attributes into these spaces.”

“Through this partnership, we will create new economic opportunities on these digital twins by connecting them with Animoca Brands’ global Web3 ecosystem of over 400 companies, and leverage content from our partner IP holders,” Okazawa added.

Masahiro Yamaguchi, the chief executive of Psychic VR Lab commented: “With the investment from Animoca Brands, a leader in the Web3 ecosystem, we are going to accelerate the creation of ‘Real Metaverse’ with our real metaverse platform STYLY. We believe that the evolution of technology in the XR / Web3 field will not only change the structure of modern society, but will also fundamentally change people’s lifestyles as a movement of world creation in the history of mankind. We hope to play a great role in this major turning point of history.”

Animoca Brands Japan said it aims to build a Web3 ecosystem in Japan with partner companies and portfolio companies such as Psychic VR Lab, and envisions Web3 as a more equitable virtual society thanks to its characteristic of enabling true digital ownership for individuals. The company said it believes this characteristic offers significant economic opportunities in Japan and beyond.