Meta (ex-Facebook) thinks big in the field of the metaverse. At least originally, in 2021, when the firm reported its costly ambitions. The company thus planned to recruit 10,000 new employees in Europe.
Last November, it laid off 11,000 worldwide, or 13% of its workforce. About a month earlier, Meta formalized the creation of a metaverse start-up accelerator at Station F, with L’Oréal and Incubator HEC Paris.
From the Web3 metaverse and more traditional
The first promotion of young shoots dedicated to “creativity in the metaverse” is now known. Kinetix, Yumon, Wilkins Avenue AR, ACID and V-Ar are therefore joining the Meta space at Station F.
Matthieu Delecourt, chief of staff VP Southern Europe of Meta, specifies that the companies, presented as “very promising” on a market however immature, will have access to mentoring and networking resources.
“The idea is to give them all the keys to accelerating the development of their business, by combining expertise and a network. For L’Oréal, this accelerator adds to the experiments carried out in the universe of the metaverse in the service of beauty tech.
Already in January, through its internal venture capital fund Bold (Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development), the multinational took a stake in Digital Village.
This premiere was announced by L’Oréal’s Metavers and Web3 general manager, Camille Kroely. A function supposed to underline the ambitions of the cosmetics group around these uses.
L’Oréal may identify future nuggets in which to invest via the incubator co-managed with Meta and HEC. Among these, Kinetix. The start-up exploits AI, 3D animation and NFT for video games and virtual worlds.
Gaming, luxury and fashion represented
Yumon is also a gaming player, like many other companies in the metaverse. The publisher has designed a fantasy world. The players ? Youtubers and streamers transformed “into fantastic heroes” thanks to digital collectibles.
Wilkins Avenue AR, as its name suggests, specializes in augmented reality. The Frenchman is particularly developing the uses of augmented reality (AR) for the retail sector, as with Maison Berger Paris, an Instagram client.
The experiences enabled in stores by augmented reality may be of interest to L’Oréal. This is also the case for the start-up Acid, a specialist in 3D design for fashion, luxury, beauty and art.
With its 20 employees, “Acid is dedicated to real-time production and has an internal motion capture studio to create relevant, tailor-made experiences for brands”.
The incubator’s latest recruit, V-Art, is also a Web3 start-up. Based in the United States, it has a platform. Its purpose: to enable tech, creative or luxury brands to generate new revenue through digital assets and blockchain licensing.