BUD, a budding app attempting to create a metaverse for Gen Z to play and engage with one another, has acquired a new round of investment in just three months. The Singapore-based firm announced that it had raised $36.8 million in a Series B round led by Sequoia Capital, just months after extending its investment in the Series A round. BUD's total funding now exceeds $60 million, thanks to this additional injection. This investment round attracted notable China-focused investors, including ClearVue Partners, NetEase, and Northern Light Venture Capital. The round also included current investors GGV Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and Source Code Capital. BUD is a budding drag-and-drop platform founded by two former Snap programmers, Risa Feng and Shawn Lin that allows users to build bulbous 3D characters, adorable virtual items, and vividly coloured experiences without any coding knowledge. Since the app's introduction in November, users have generated over 15 million bespoke experiences, which are virtual places with games that others may join.
BUD’s Strategy on NFT:
On BUD's marketplace, virtual goods-like outfits and accessories that various players or users make for avatars have changed hands over more than 150 million times. Although these transactions appear to be a really great potential source of revenue, BUD is not currently charging any fees. It hasn’t started any other way of monetization on the app. The app has been ranked among the top 10 social applications in almost 40 countries spanning North America, Southeast Asia, and South America, possibly because of its free-to-use and ad-free nature. According to market intelligence firm SensorTower, it is presently the #1 free social Android app in Thailand and Vietnam. With plans to offer a marketplace for non-fungible tokens, BUD is bringing the user experience to the next level (NFTs). This implies that the ownership of virtual goods purchased using BUD will be documented on the blockchain. Digital assets will most likely be resold as NFTs, which can have their legitimacy and provenance checked more simply. BUD refused to say which blockchain the NFT project will utilize or whose coins it will employ but did say the marketplace will "soon be active”. While BUD enables mainstream Gen Z consumers to create 3D entertainment, they will also continue introducing blockchain to the masses, allowing our artists to genuinely own and monetize their work. The firm is rapidly growing, with 130 people divided among its Singapore headquarters, as well as locations in Shenzhen and the United States.
About BUD
While many people are aware of the digital disruption in banking, few are aware of the extent to which it has occurred; the open data API recently made accessible to developers, combined with smartphone technology, has the potential to change more than just how they view their bank balance. Bud is bringing a fresh perspective and experience to banking by utilising data to better understand its community and providing them with a platform focused on connecting people with the things they enjoy, with the premise that by working together, they can do more.
