V secures funding from Square Enix, Itochu, and others to lead Japan’s “Metaverse” new era

V has completed a third-party allotment of new shares to Square Enix, Nippon Venture Capital, Itochu, FFG Venture Business Partners, and Sony Startup Acceleration Program. With this, the company’s total funding, including loans from financial institutions, has reached approximately JPY 240m.

With this funding, V will promote business collaborations with their investors, recruit talent for business expansion, and make technological investments to maximize the value V provides to their client companies, advancing various Metaverse initiatives in Japan.

Current State and Challenges of the Metaverse Market as of 2024

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ forecast of the global Metaverse market size, it expanded to JPY 4.2trn in 2021 and is expected to reach JPY 78.8trn by 2030.

However, in the domestic Metaverse market, monetization remains a significant challenge despite market expansion. Under these circumstances, V has achieved full-year profitability and has successfully monetized numerous projects with their client partners.

V’s Business Overview

V Inc. operates three main business lines:

Metaverse Entry Support Business

This business provides comprehensive support from world creation to avatar/costume item production and sales promotion using V’s extensive community network on major Metaverse platforms such as VRChat, ZEPETO, Roblox, and Fortnite.

By operating on platforms with existing user bases in the hundreds of millions and economic zones worth hundreds of billions, V can eliminate the cost of building platforms and attracting users from scratch, enabling rapid business deployment.

Discord Launch and Operation Support Business

This business supports the launch and operation of Discord, a rapidly growing SNS with 200 million monthly users worldwide, which is also widely used in Metaverse initiatives.

V leverages their expertise in operating Japan’s largest Discord communities for multiple titles, including “Robcom-JP” for Roblox and “VRC-JP” for VRChat.

Virtual Item EC Business

This business involves the production and sale of virtual items, which are in increasing demand in the virtual commerce sector.

Projects involving licensed or jointly developed new IPs from anime and other IP licensors have received significant attention.

V has distribution channels on four major virtual communication market platforms, with particularly comprehensive customer touchpoints on the next-generation social platform “VRChat,” including V’s own businesses “Metacal Saizen” and “kaihen.”

Background and Purpose of Funding

V achieved full-year profitability in March 2024. With this funding as a catalyst, V aims to further expand their business by actively investing in talent acquisition, technology, and organizational development to solve the challenges many companies face in deploying Metaverse initiatives. V also aims to capture the largest share of the domestic virtual commerce market for virtual items.

As the term “Metaverse” becomes commonplace, the number of consumers who make virtual spaces part of their lives, beyond existing communities, continues to increase. To enrich the lives of people who “live” in these spaces, V will further invest in businesses that “co-create with all companies engaged in the Metaverse.”

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