{"id":158949,"date":"2023-07-11T12:32:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T11:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=158949"},"modified":"2023-07-11T12:32:01","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T11:32:01","slug":"metaverse-studio-karta-receives-1-1m-funding-from-music-and-gaming-industry-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/metaverse-studio-karta-receives-1-1m-funding-from-music-and-gaming-industry-players\/","title":{"rendered":"Metaverse studio Karta receives $1.1m funding from music and gaming industry players"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">Metaverse studio <a href=\"https:\/\/www.karta.game\/\">Karta<\/a> has secured a $1.1 million investment from players in the music, gaming, sports and finance industries in a funding round led by GameTech Ventures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Other participants in the round include Amy Thomson, ex-Chief Catalogue Officer to Hipgnosis, global entertainment company Toikido, CEO of Sports Loft Charlie Greenwood, Chairman of UK Finance Robert Wigley, Powster Founder and CEO Ste Thompson and venture studio Big Ideas Group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Founded in July 2021 by ex-Head of Events at Fnatic, Erik Londr\u00e9, and music business veteran <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/hipgnosis-exec-tony-barnes-named-as-co-founder-of-metaverse-startup-karta\/\">Tony Barnes,<\/a> Karta helps brands, artists, and sports teams connect with users of virtual worlds.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">      <div class=\"mb-advert__incontent\">      <div class=\"mb-advert mb-advert__tweeny hidden-xs hidden-ms hidden-sm\" data-loaded=\"no\" data-sizes=\"992 1200 1440\" data-name=\"628x90 Sponsor banner #5 (992+1200+1440)\" data-params=\"dfp_sponsor5_628\" id=\"dfp_sponsor5_628\"><\/div>      <div class=\"mb-advert mb-advert__banner mb-advert__banner--inline hidden-xs hidden-sm hidden-md hidden-lg\" data-loaded=\"no\" data-sizes=\"480\" data-name=\"468x60 Sponsor banner #5 (480)\" data-params=\"dfp_sponsor5_468\" id=\"dfp_sponsor5_468\"><\/div>      <div class=\"mb-advert mb-advert__mobile mb-advert__mobile--inline hidden-ms hidden-md hidden-lg\" data-loaded=\"no\" data-sizes=\"320 768\" data-name=\"300x50 Sponsor banner #5 (320+768)\" data-params=\"dfp_sponsor5_300\" id=\"dfp_sponsor5_300\"><\/div>      <\/div>      <\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Since its startup launch in 2021, Karta has delivered projects on platforms like Roblox, Fortnite, and Decentraland for renowned clients including Amazon Music, Unilever&#8217;s Sunsilk, and K-pop girl group TWICE.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">These campaigns, which the company claims have reached an audience of over 100 million, have earned Karta several industry awards and a recent shortlisting in the Health &amp; Wellness category at the Cannes Lion Awards for their work with Ronald McDonald House.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">      <div class=\"mb-advert__incontent\">      <div class=\"mb-advert mb-advert__spu\" data-loaded=\"no\" data-name=\"300x250 Sponsor MPU #1\" data-params=\"dfp_spu1\" id=\"dfp_spu1\"><\/div>      <\/div>      <\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Karta recently helped launch the TWICE Square fan experience for K-pop group TWICE via a partnership with Republic Records and JYP Management. TWICE Square currently holds the spot as the #1 music experience on Roblox and ranks third among all branded experiences on the platform in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Lachlan Gowrie-Smith, Partner at GameTech Ventures, said: \u201cErik, Tony and the team at Karta are building the very best brand experiences on leading gaming platforms with consistently exceptional results.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIt was obvious as we navigate the way people engage with music and everyday life now in the metaverse to back a company who are not only building the best spaces I\u2019ve seen there but also planning innovation I think will evolve this into a place we can\u2019t live without.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Amy Thomson, Hipgnosis&#8217; ex-Chief Catalogue Officer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cBy adopting a partnership mindset with a long-term view and a focus on rich experiences and fun for communities of fans, they are pioneering a new medium of deep engagement with consumers. With an experienced and talented team, we\u2019re delighted to be joining their journey with this investment\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Thomson, one of the new investors, said: \u201cIt was obvious as we navigate the way people engage with music and everyday life now in the metaverse to back a company who are not only building the best spaces I\u2019ve seen there but also planning innovation I think will evolve this into a place we can\u2019t live without.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">      <div class=\"mb-advert__incontent\">      <div class=\"mb-advert mb-advert__spu\" data-loaded=\"no\" data-name=\"300x250 Sponsor MPU #2\" data-params=\"dfp_spu2\" id=\"dfp_spu2\"><\/div>      <\/div>      <\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Karta\u2019s Londr\u00e9 added: \u201cWe\u2019re incredibly grateful for the backing and support received so far from some of the most well-respected figures in the industries we work with. They, like us, know the metaverse is the real deal and is delivering real word results that matter. The investment raised is going to be crucial in helping us service the growing demand for metaverse experiences by investing in our team, platform and regional expansions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Back in March, Londr\u00e9 highlighted the increasing collaboration between the gaming and music industries, as witnessed in the success of in-game concerts by artists like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/masterminding-marshmello-how-do-we-turn-this-into-the-next-disney\/\">Marshmello<\/a>, Travis Scott, Lil Nas X, and Ariana Grande. In 2019, Marshmello hosted the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/marshmello-just-played-a-live-set-to-10m-people-in-video-game-fortnite-and-that-wasnt-even-the-most-interesting-move-he-made-this-weekend\/\">first Fortnite in-game concert.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Karta has delivered projects on platforms like Roblox, Fortnite, and Decentraland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":138247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}