Metaverse avatar platform raises $56M Series B

Ready Player Me, a Tallinn, Estonia-based platform for creating animated avatars, has raised $56 million in a Series B round.

Why it matters: Cash is still funneling into the metaverse. Startups like Ready Player Me provide identity tools for creators and monetization for brands.

Details: Andreessen Horowitz led and was joined by Roblox co-founder David Baszucki, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, King Games co-founders Sebastian Knutsson and Riccardo Zacconi, Endeavor and Hartbeat Ventures.

• The startup announced a $13 million Series A round in December.
• The platform works with more than 3,000 partners, up from 900 in December. Its customers include Adidas, New Balance, Dior, Pull&Bear and Warner Bros.
• The new funding will be used for hiring (including in its New York offices) and building more developer and creator tools, per TechCrunch. Ready Player Me has 50 employees, mostly in Europe, and plans to grow its U.S. team by 20 to 30, per Fast Company.

Yes, and: Another developer platform for creating virtual avatars also announced new funding Tuesday. Inworld AI, a San Francisco-based startup, closed a Series A funding round of $50 million, led by Section 32 and Intel Capital.

The bottom line: "There may be metaverse [experiences] owned by big companies, who will make all the rules, but there is a vision of an open one where people can travel, built by millions of developers, where no one controls the whole thing," Ready Player Me CEO Timmu Tõke told TechCrunch.