Improbable raises $150 million to accelerate metaverse pivot

Improbable has raised $150 million to expand its fledgling metaverse business.

The company -- best known for creating multiplayer networking tech, SpatialOS -- outlined plans to accelerate its "metaverse activities" after selling its Canadian development studio Inflexion Games to Tencent.

Improbable now intends to establish and develop M2 (or "MSquared"), a network of interoperable Web3 metaverses powered by its Morpheus technology.

"The M2 network will combine Improbable Morpheus technology with new services designed to support interoperability, commerce in digital assets and governance in Web3," wrote the company in a blog post.

"It will bring together companies, existing communities and fans in sports, music, fashion and entertainment and enable them to interact in dense virtual spaces with unprecedented fidelity. The network is being designed to support integration with existing worlds as well as new projects."

Improbable noted that global metaverse revenue is expected to be worth $800 billion by 2024, and it seems like the company wants to carve itself a pretty hefty slice of that nascent virtual pie.

The UK company added that it has spent almost a decade developing technology that enables even greater complexity in visual worlds, including its suite of miultiplayer services, and said Morpheus in particular -- which is an evolution of SpatialOS -- will allow over 10,000 players to interact in "dense virtual spaces."

Commenting on the company's shifting direction, Improbable chief exec Herman Narula said the metaverse movement represents a "once-in-a-generation redefinition of our society towards a ‘fulfilment economy’."

"M2 is our contribution to establishing this future and we hope to help our partners catalyse an open metaverse with many participants and success stories," added Narula. "We are excited to be actively working with some of the best investors in the space in building out this new ecosystem.”