China’s $22M investment fund targets projects building in the metaverse

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Henan Cultural Tourism Investment Group has announced the launch of a private equity investment fund to assist projects building in the metaverse.

The state-owned investment group made the disclosure at an event held in Jianxi District with several industry participants in attendance. According to the press release, the goal of the metaverse fund is to promote Chinese culture and tourism using innovative technology like virtual reality and the metaverse.

The investment group added that the injection of funds into the local metaverse industry has the potential to increase the revenue and the GDP of the sector by up to 30 billion yuan ($4 billion) by 2025. Projects revolving around Chinese culture and art will be given preference to the fund, particularly those stemming from the cities of Jianxi and Luoyang.

“The two parties will give full play to their respective advantages, integrate high-quality upstream and downstream resources of the cultural and tourism industry chain through the fund, and work together to promote the application integration and development of virtual reality and metaverse industries,” the translated statement from the city’s authorities read.

Henan’s move is similar to Shanghai’s five-year digital economy development plan, which includes support for several enterprises building with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and virtual worlds. Beijing also seized the moment to announce a two-year metaverse development plan still centered around promoting culture and tourism.

Despite the ban on digital currencies by Chinese authorities in 2021, enthusiasm for other facets of blockchain has continued to soar. The market for digital collectibles has reached frenetic levels of interest as authorities try to stifle their usage for speculation.

In a show of national interest in the metaverse, Nanjing University of Information Science renamed its engineering department after the metaverse while Chinese Big Tech firms have all flocked to the ecosystem.

Tech firms are collapsing under the weight of the metaverse

After announcing a massive exploration of the metaverse, Chinese tech giant Tencent pedaled back on its decision to chart a new course for the future. A company release confirmed that it had disbanded its entire metaverse unit in a “personnel reshuffle,” leaving 300 employees affected by the move.

Since throwing its weight behind full-scale metaverse development, Meta (NASDAQ: META) has recorded over $14 billion in losses, while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has been forced to rethink its strategy for virtual worlds. While corporations continue to stagger in their metaverse advancements, governments worldwide are increasing funding for the sector to improve the state of their digital economies.

Watch BSV Stories – Episode 7: Unravelling the Metaverse at the CES Tech Las Vegas 2022