Investing

Web3 Startup Raises $30M to Build the Metaverse, Backed by Epic Games, British Army

Tim Fries

Published: September 23, 2022 10:44 pm

UK distributed computing startup Hadean secured $30 million in a Series A funding round led by Molten Ventures. The funding was backed by several other prominent names including the video gaming giant Epic Games and the CIA-backed In-Q-Tel.

Hadean Receives Epic Games’ Support to Develop Metaverse Infrastructure Technology

Hadean, a London-based startup that develops an infrastructure technology for the metaverse, raised $30 million in a Series A funding round. The financing was led by Molten Ventures, joined by other investors including 2050 Capital, Alumni Ventures, Aster Capital, Entrepreneur First, and In-Q-Tel.

Epic Games, the maker of Unreal Engine and Fortnite, also participated in the funding. Additionally, Epic Games is also a Hadean’s customer, alongside other bigwigs like Microsoft, Minecraft, and Sony, among others.

Hadean plans to use the fresh funding to continue developing its scalable and interoperable metaverse capabilities. Because it operates as an open platform for spatial cloud computing, the startup also views itself as an “infrastructure” that fuels the metaverse and help it become a reality.

“Hadean’s computing power will provide the infrastructure that’s needed as we work to create a scalable metaverse. The company’s technology complements Epic’s Unreal Engine by enabling massive amounts of concurrent users and unlocking new tools for creators and developers.”

– Marc Petit, VP, of Epic’s Unreal Engine Ecosystem

Hadean’s distributed computing capabilities represent the core of its technology. The startup helps video game makers scale their codebase to underpin their software that uses large amounts of computing power. This allows massively multiplayer online (MMO) games like Minecraft to avoid implementing player limit restrictions and dynamically provide more or fewer resources, depending on the game’s requirements.

Hadean Also Backed by the CIA and the British Government

Hadean’s fresh funding comes just a month after the startup raised $16.7 million to develop simulation software for the British Army. The funding was led by Chinese internet giant Tencent and In-Q-Tel, a US venture capital firm backed by funds from the CIA.

Hadean also received an investment from the UK Government’s Future Fund, the startup rescue fund launched by parliament member Rishi Sunak during the coronavirus pandemic. The company was also advised by experts from the National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), which invests in highly sensitive defense startups, according to The Telegraph.

Hadean’s unique investor lineup marks an important step for the expansion of the broader metaverse, as more big names continue to invest in the technology building immersive worlds. The metaverse market is projected to grow to $1.5 trillion by 2029, according to Fortune Business Insights (FBI).

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist