【TIMELINE】2023/04#1

◉ Financing in the Metaverse sector

1. Distyl AI and OpenAI formed a service alliance and completed a $7 million seed round financing.
2. Skyland Ventures' Web3 fund raised about $38 million, with participation from SBI Group.
3. Medieval Empires raised $3 million in financing.
4. Decentralized AI integration start-up AiONE completed a $1 million seed round financing.
5. Metaverse company Social Future raised $6 million in financing.
6. Web3 "phygital" fashion start-up Pillz completed a new round of financing.
7. NFT platform Refinable was acquired by Artifact Labs.
8. KRAFTON and Naver Z will form a new joint venture in North America to expand the Metaverse, with an initial investment of $36.4 million.
9. AR medical device company Ocutrx acquired Spectrum AMT.
10. Web3 XR combat live platform Karate Combat raised $18 million in financing.
11. Web3 game Battlegrounds developer CEBG Game completed a $3 million private round of financing.
12. Web3 notification platform Yoz Labs raised $3.5 million in financing.
13. Game studio Vinci Games raised $5.1 million in seed round financing.
14. VR haptic feedback solution provider SenseGlove received investment from Lumaux.
15. Korean blockchain game developer GOMBLE received seed round financing from Binance Labs.
16. Suishen Technology completed tens of millions of yuan in financing, mainly providing 3D virtual content services.

◉ NFT & Blockchain

1. Huang Licheng has bought BAYC NFT series again after briefly "withdrawing from the NFT field."
2. Merit Circle, a chain game union, will launch the game subnet Beam on Avalanche.
3. Solana Mobile has partnered with Claynosaurz to release the "Call of Saga" co-branded NFT series.
4. The NFT project Invisible Friends has partnered with Little Atlas to aggregate the community.
5. Starbucks Holiday Cheer Edition 1 Stamp has reached a price of $1,000 on the Odyssey NFT market.
6. Elixir Games has partnered with Square Enix to promote Web3 games.
7. Global chemical giant BASF has submitted a trademark application for NFTs.
8. Tezos India has partnered with GoLive Games to launch India's first NFT cricket game.
9. Yuga Labs has acquired ownership of CryptoPunks Wrapper.
10. Gadget-Bot plans to launch the Web3 game Kaidro.
11. Rapper Soulja Boy is suspected of promoting a fraudulent NFT project.
12. Sotheby's auction house will sell NFTs confiscated from Three Arrows Capital.
13. Memeland, an NFT project under 9GAG, is expected to launch MEME tokens.
14. Abyss World has partnered with SpaceandTime, a Microsoft-backed investment, to launch a Web3 game.
15. The production company of the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street" will release NFTs.
16. NBA star LaMelo Ball announced his entry into The Sandbox.
17. The Sandbox has partnered with Playground to create a unique digital world for LaMelo Ball fans

◉ VR & AR

1. VR training solution company Vrgineers partners with ART to advance MR military pilot training.
2. Australian Defense Force recruitment agency collaborates with Snap to launch AR gesture recognition filters to recruit new soldiers.
3. Spanish VR company Virtualware introduces VIROO platform to the University of El Salvador.
4. Qualcomm accelerates the expansion of Snapdragon Spaces XR platform in China's developer ecosystem.
5. NBC Universal streaming platform Peacock to land on Meta Quest.
6. Huawei releases in-car AR-HUD and nova 11 series.
7. VR education app Immerse collaborates with Nvidia to launch a web-based portal.
8. Valve product designer confirms the development of a new VR headset.
9. Meta will open Horizon Worlds VR app to teenagers in the US and Canada in the coming weeks.
10. Valve reveals it's developing a new VR headset, potentially Index 2.
11. PICO launches developer version of its motion tracking device, priced at 199 yuan.
12. Cleveland Cavaliers bring AR experience to fans during NBA playoffs.
13. Nvidia collaborates with VR education app Immerse to launch a web-based VR service.
14. VR training solution provider Vrgineers has teamed up with ART to enhance the training of military pilots using MR technology.
15. The Australian Defense Force recruitment agency has partnered with Snap to use AR gesture recognition filters for recruiting new soldiers.
16. Virtualware, a VR company from Spain, has introduced the VIROO platform to the University of El Salvador.
17. Qualcomm is speeding up the expansion of the Snapdragon Spaces XR platform in China's developer ecosystem.
18. NBC Universal streaming platform Peacock will be available on Meta Quest.
19. Huawei has released an in-car AR-HUD and nova 11 series.
20. VR education app Immerse has partnered with Nvidia to launch a web-based portal.
21. Valve's product designer has confirmed that the company is developing a new VR headset.
22. In the coming weeks, Meta will make its Horizon Worlds VR app available to teenagers in the US and Canada.
23. Valve has revealed that it's working on a new VR headset, possibly Index 2.
24. PICO has launched a developer version of its motion tracking device, priced at 199 yuan.
25. The Cleveland Cavaliers are offering an AR experience to fans during the NBA playoffs.
26. Nvidia has partnered with VR education app Immerse to launch a web-based VR service.

◉ Policy & Safety

1. Spanish Data Protection Agency investigates ChatGPT.
2. Human rights experts urge Meta to introduce age restrictions for metaverse.
3. UK's newly established Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will advance metaverse and Web3 strategy.
4. Vivoka releases offline voice assistant.
5. Tencent Cloud releases large-scale model computing cluster.
6. Statter Labs launches metaverse industry application platform.
7. Planar and OptiTrack unveil new motion capture and display technology.
8. Siemens, Nvidia, and Amazon Web Services create industrial metaverse Freyr Gigafactory.
9. Musk plans to launch artificial intelligence platform TruthGPT.
10. First global metaverse film festival to be held.
11. Kingsoft Office releases generative artificial intelligence application WPS AI.
12. 53 unicorn blockchain companies make Hurun's Global Unicorn List 2023.
13. Meta lays off 4,000 employees on April 19.
14. Industrial Metaverse Development Conference for China's heritage sites to be held in Baoding on April 26.
15. Synthesis AI releases generative AI Avatar solution to create realistic virtual digital humans via text prompts.
16. Italian menswear brand, Gianni, launches AI-driven luxury customer service.
17. G7 summit in Japan to discuss ChatGPT and establish international rules.
18. Snap announces that AI chatbot My AI is now available for all users, including group chat.

◉ Professionals & Research

1. The CEO of Amazon Web Services says that generative AI is still in its early stages.
2. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says OpenAI won't start training GPT-5 for some time.
3. The Economic Daily believes that standardized regulation is key to the future of the AIGC.
4. The co-founder of Beamery believes that those affected by AI will mostly change jobs, rather than lose them.
5. The Hong Kong Productivity Council believes that industrial metaverses give companies a "brain."
6. Coinbase believes that the UK can become the "innovation center" of the Web3 economy.
7. China's Supreme People's Procuratorate says that more research should be done on legal issues related to new technologies such as metaverses and blockchains.
8. Huawei's director of strategic research believes that AI still faces three major challenges.
9. Tuowei Information says ChatGPT technology has been applied to game businesses in AI drawing, intelligent NPC, and content creation.
10. The co-founder of SenseTime believes that smart cars can complete the interactive closed loop from human to car to AI model.
11. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says that more efforts should be made in the R&D of frontier technologies such as AI, blockchain, and digital twins.
12. Zhejiang province will develop new business models such as digital human virtual anchors and new consumption scenes in metaverses.
13. Gore believes that the future development of the VR/AR industry is promising.