Ripple invests in round for AI-metaverse company partnered with FIFA and Mastercard

Futureverse, a platform leveraging both artificial intelligence and metaverse technology, raised $54 million in Series A funding, with crypto payment solutions provider Ripple Labs participating.

Growth equity fund 10T Holdings led the round. Futureverse's founders declined to share the company's new valuation, according to Bloomberg.

Futureverse's platform "includes a robust suite of proprietary AI content generation tools designed to enhance the music, objects, characters and animations that make up the metaverse," the company said in a statement. It also said it had previously forged partnerships with a diverse set of companies and individuals including FIFA, Mastercard, Death Row Records, Snoop Dogg and Keanu Reeves.

The company previously announced a partnership with Ripple that includes an integration that utilizes the XRP token which surged in value last week after a court issued a mixed ruling on whether or not the digital asset is a security.

Futureverse vision

The Futureverse funding news comes at a time when enthusiasm for "metaverse" startups and investments has cooled after soaring last year. The company hopes its technological solutions and tools will foster more development of "interoperable apps, games and experiences."

“We are excited to continue to support the Futureverse vision," Ripple President Monica Long said in a statement.  "While we’re at the earliest stages of what a project like this, and really the larger concept of the metaverse, can achieve, we at Ripple are thrilled to contribute to the foundational infrastructure layer and provide real utility to the end users of the open metaverse."