The Metaverse promises a lot of cool things, and now Condense is bringing live, real-life events into the mix. The company focuses on artists and performers, believing that fantastic content comes first. In addition, Condense seeks to provide a simple, reliable and transparent service. Now, with $4.5 million in additional funding, Condense plans to build relationships with artists, labels, content creators, and metaverse platforms. Check out the press release below for more.
Condense – the world’s first company to deliver the power, connection and immersion of real live events in the metaverse – has raised a $4.5 million funding round led by LocalGlobe, 7% Companies and Deeptech Laboratoriesalongside angels including platinum grime artist, former English footballer and sports presenter Tom Blomfield (Monzo), famed music manager Grace Ladoja MBE and Ian Hogarth (Song Kick).
Founded in Bristol in 2019, Condense is the only company in the world with the end-to-end capture and streaming technology to live stream real-world events such as music and sporting events in 3D applications. The company uses state-of-the-art computer vision, machine learning and proprietary streaming infrastructure to capture and integrate live 3D video (Video 3.0) in any metaverse game, mobile app or platform created with Unity or Unreal Engine.
This means realistic live performances can be streamed directly into the virtual worlds and gaming platforms used by billions of people around the world, without the need for VR headsets. Because events are streamed live as three-dimensional “real-world” video, each player’s perspective is as unique and dynamic as if they were attending a physical live event – and their experience just as memorable.
In addition to the funding announcement, the company has also opened the world’s first metaverse studio in partnership with Watershed – Bristol’s cultural film and creative tech venue – to give established artists and emerging talent access to technology. The studio is a “metaverse first” event space, and can also accommodate a live audience. In partnership with another organization, a studio in London will open soon followed by other studios internationally.
With Condense, streaming live in three dimensions to the Metaverse is as natural and easy as playing in front of a conventional camera, without the need for green screens or post-production, allowing immediate connection with the audience in real time.
- Check out a live video of Grove, captured and broadcast by Condense in Video 3.0, here: https://youtu.be/bEmO1rrqOtI
Bristol-based singer and producer Grove, who was among the first artists to pioneer Condense technology, said: “The minds behind the technology are pushing the boundaries of technology-based performance sharing. It’s great for accessibility and opens up exciting new opportunities for fans to connect with their favorite artists.
Video 3.0 offers fans whole new online experiences. Audiences can attend concerts or sporting events with friends, with the freedom to move among virtual crowds and get closer to the action. Because the performances are live, fans can interact with the artist – a digital step up from holding a banner at a concert – and artists can respond in real time, shouting, answering questions or interpreting a requested lead.
Condense harnesses the feelings of connection you get from seeing your favorite band, artist, team or sports star perform live, while introducing an unprecedented level of access, participation and inclusion – while providing artists , rightsholders and meta platforms to the opportunity to create entirely new revenue streams.
Grace Ladoja MBE, co-founder of METALLIC INC and manager of renowned artists, said: “Culture and community are what keep music going. This is how we connect with where we came from and where we want to go. Condense’s technology opens up a new platform for these communities and cultures, diversifying the voices in the metaverse by making it alive and accessible. It has the potential to inspire and strengthen a new movement of artists and fans. It’s both exciting and important.
Ziv Reichert, Partner at LocalGlobe (recently ranked the UK’s top seed investor by Dealroom) said: “Hundreds of millions of people are hanging out on immersive 3D platforms like Roblox, Rec Room, Fortnite, Sandbox, Decentraland and VRChat; attend virtual events, socialize and be creative. At the same time, gamer demand for live entertainment in these virtual worlds has never been greater. Condense has built the infrastructure to connect the two – now musical artists, sports stars and creatives can perform and perform live in the metaverse, in front of the biggest stadium audience imaginable.
Andrew Gault, founding partner of 7percent ventures, said: “When I invested in Oculus nearly 10 years ago, the dream was to deliver experiences that seamlessly merge the digital and the physical. Condense has now made this possible across all video games and platforms, without the need for VR headsets. What they’ve built is already a reality and it’s going to change the way the whole world engages online.
Miles Kirby, CEO of Deeptech Labs, said, “The Metaverse requires new infrastructure, much of which is innovative and requires next-generation machine learning and machine vision. Condense has the deep tech experience and vision to make the Metaverse the number one destination for live events.
Condense CEO and co-founder Nick Fellingham said: “The Bristol scene has long been a melting pot of different cultures and music and in recent years has also become a hub for game development. Now we will put Bristol back on the map with the world’s first Metaverse live streaming studio to bring together the energy of live events with the massive scale of the Metaverse. The Video 3.0 infrastructure we’ve built takes the technical complexity out of live streaming into the metaverse, so people are free to put their creativity into it. Video 3.0 will change not only the way we experience live events online, but fundamentally the way we engage. with each other.”
The original press release can be found on Business Wire.
Spencer Hulse is editor at Grit Daily News. It covers startups, affiliates, viral and marketing news.
