◉Financing in the Metaverse sector
Mogic AI, an AI full-chain marketing company, recently secured tens of millions of dollars in Series A financing. This round was led by Kaihui Fund, with participation from existing shareholder ZhenFund. Prior to this, Mogic AI had completed an angel round of financing from ZhenFund and Wanhua Capital. Yang Hai, Co-founder and COO of Mogic AI, stated that this financing will primarily be used for investment in intelligent algorithms and model development in the AI video field.
Zhi Jian Life recently completed tens of millions of yuan in Pre-A round financing, with investment led by the National Technology Transfer Guiding Fund's entrepreneurial investment sub-fund, Yangming Capital. The funds will be mainly used for the digitalization and intelligent product development of the pathology department, accelerating industry application. Zhi Jian Life is a research-oriented technology company specializing in pathology medical big data technology and AI diagnostic technology. It brings together talents from various interdisciplinary fields such as high-performance computing, biomedical science, optical microscopy, image processing, AI, and big data. In collaboration with top domestic hospitals' pathology and oncology experts, it develops AI-assisted diagnostic solutions and product systems that integrate medical imaging, pathology, and omics, providing advanced and intelligent services and products for medical institutions, doctors, patients, and research institutions.
Recently, Jingxin Fund completed a strategic investment in Chuangyi Technology. Chuangyi Technology (CREATEONE) is a content-driven IP commercialization organization that focuses on technology content operation. Building an interactive metaverse platform enables IP, users, and brands to quickly enter the metaverse world we've built, achieving virtualization of IP, users, and brands. It has already incubated many well-known IPs such as Hui Hui Zhou, Fei Fei Yu, Astronaut Xiao Wu, Photo Self-Study Room, Liu Yexi, Yuka Katana, and more.
On August 3rd, the generative AI platform inworld.ai announced on its official website that it has secured $50 million (approximately 350 million yuan) in funding, with a valuation of $500 million. This round was led by Lightspeed Venture, with participation from institutions like Stanford University, LG Ventures, Samsung Next, and others. Unlike focusing on the ChatGPT text domain, inworld.ai's generative AI platform is centered around gaming. Users can quickly develop NPCs for 3D, strategy, 2D, and other types of games using text. These characters possess human-like features such as memory, backgrounds, emotions, emotional intelligence, execution abilities, and body language, enhancing game playability and development efficiency. Currently, inworld.ai is collaborating with game developers like NetEase Games and LG U+, and with the new funds, they aim to open-source their AI platform.
On August 7th, Web3 luxury brand Juhnz completed a $1 million seed round of financing, led by Bixin, with participation from LK Ventures, family offices in Singapore and Hong Kong, and individual investors including a major U.S. real estate company. This round of financing will be used to explore the combination of physical goods and blockchain digital applications, accelerating the expansion of the Phygital track.
Additionally, Juhnz will release 500 limited-edition NFTs of top-tier Fujian Silver Needle white tea. The products are equipped with advanced dynamic encrypted NFC chips for authenticity verification and traceability. Upon receiving the product, users can tap the chip with their smartphones to access all information about the tea.
◉NFT & Blockchain
On August 10th, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced on social media that he has participated in the Onchain Summer music NFT auction. The auction page displays Armstrong's bid of 0.88 ETH for the NFT. Onchain Summer is an incentive activity for the main net launch of Coinbase's L2 network Base. The NFT of the same name was created by a crypto artist @15 years of song a day.
Worldcoin's digital identity project on the Ethereum blockchain could consume $4.5 million in gas fees annually, thus driving demand for Ethereum. In just 40 days, the Worldcoin project spent $500,000 in gas fees for retina scans using zero-knowledge proofs. Worldcoin Orbs uses the zk-proofs encryption protocol to add users' World IDs to the list of verified individuals.
The Argentinian Data Protection Agency (AAIP) announced an investigation into the data handling practices of the digital currency Worldcoin, developed by OpenAI's CEO. The investigation will carefully analyze the processes and practices related to the collection, storage, and use of personal sensitive data, including biometric data, by Worldcoin.
Prior to this, French privacy regulators, Kenyan authorities, and German financial regulators had also conducted investigations into Worldcoin.
◉VR & XR & AR
According to the latest data released by Lutu Technology (RUNTO), China's VR/AR market saw total sales of 178,000 units in the second quarter of 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 51.2%. Among these, sales in the online public retail market (excluding content e-commerce like Douyin) accounted for 39.3% of the total, with a year-on-year decrease of 40.8%. Additionally, the data shows that VR online sales dropped significantly, with a 60.9% YoY decrease; meanwhile, the development of AR devices accelerated noticeably, increasing their share in the overall VR/AR device online market to 38%, with a 258% YoY increase in sales volume, a 169% YoY increase in sales value, and a slight decrease in average price to 2,828 yuan.
◉Top
According to the official website of the National Intellectual Property Administration's trademark office, OpenAI OPCO, LLC applied to register the trademark "GPT-5" in late July. The international classifications include scientific instruments and website services, and the current status of the trademarks is "application in process." Additionally, it was reported previously that documents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) revealed that OpenAI submitted a trademark application for "GPT-5" on July 18th, which has been accepted. In the disclosed application, OpenAI mentioned that the unreleased GPT-5 will have numerous capabilities that GPT-4 lacks, almost all of which are aimed at AGI.
Elon Musk recently acquired the domain name AI.com from OpenAI. When you visit AI.com, it directly redirects to the website of xAI company. AI.com was registered in May 1993, and it has a history of nearly 30 years. Previous reports suggested that OpenAI purchased the domain name "AI.com" for a cost of $11 million.
On Wednesday, August 9th, the White House initiated a two-year artificial intelligence competition called the "AI Cyber Challenge (AIxCC)." This competition aims to address cybersecurity issues using AI solutions. The competition is led by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and will collaborate with companies such as Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. The total prize pool approaches $20 million. Participants are required to use AI to identify and fix software vulnerabilities.
