Jadu, an augmented reality (AR) start-up, based in Los Angeles has raised $ 36 million to develop an exciting gaming platform. It allows the players to move around in the real world along with their NFT avatars.
The Series A round was led by Bain Capital, which was then joined by the current investor, General Catalyst Partners. The other investors who funded Jadu are LG Tech Ventures and Alumni Ventures. After the new funding, the total investment in Jadu’s gaming platform venture has risen to $ 45 million.
The start-up, Jadu was established in 2020 and it focused its attention on creating an AR mobile app. This app stays connected to the players’ Ethereum wallets and it allows them to transform their three-dimensional animated NFTs into virtual players.
The beta testing of this app is going to be completed this summer. Once the testing phase is over, then it will allow the user to integrate various avatars from the NFT collections like CyberKongz, Deadfellaz, and FLUFs. Additionally, you can also integrate some videogames from “The Sandbox”.
At present, some other AR experiences allow the gamer to play from a first-person point of view (“Pokémon Go”). However, The Jadu players can experience highly engaging gameplay as they can stay put and navigate their avatar characters around their back yards and in bedrooms. This allows the gamer to experience playing video games from a third-person perspective in the real world.
Jadu’s founder and CEO Asad J. Malik told dot.LA that their attempt in adding an avatar centrally, within a player’s view is a unique concept for AR, and it is counterintuitive. He further added that this concept in gaming has made AR become super visual which further enhances the player’s experience. The player can visualise a representation of a character moving around the room and doing various things.
Jadu has around 50 employees, and much of these are its leadership team that including Malik who is based in Los Angeles. He started his journey with an AR mobile app that allowed users to dance with lifelike holograms of music artists like Pussy Riot and Lil Nas X.
The thinking behind making this app was that it gave the users a tool to record clips of the videos they have created and then post them on social media. This helped in advertising the complex AR experience that they could make which was not yet available on other platforms. Some of the videos the users recorded using the app went viral on TikTok and the first app produced by Jadu became one of the 30 most downloaded entertainment apps on the apple store for a brief time
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However, the goal for Jadu was always to build a more interactive AR platform. The Jadu team saw their chance to fulfill their dream of an expansive AR platform with the rise of NFTs along with the emergence of Web3. It showed a vision of a decentralised iteration of the Internet based on blockchain technology.
Jadu swiftly reoriented to develop AR gameplay for the Web3 avatars. They also ventured into selling accessories like hoverboards and jet packs as NFTs. Jadu was successful in its potential and it earned more than $ 5 million from the initial NFT sales. Malik stated that it collects a 5% commission on nearly 25 million in secondary sales that the NFTs have done till now on platforms like OpenSea.
Malik explained the plans of Jadu with the new fund. He told that the company is releasing its first in-house NFTs collection, which is likely to become its main revenue source this year. He further stated that in the foreseeable future, Jadu would charge commissions from third parties who create experiences or game items on its platform.
