Hiro Capital raises $340m metaverse fund
Venture capital firm will use fund to target early-stage gaming and metaverse start-ups
London and Luxembourg-based Hiro Capital has announced a new $300m gaming and metaverse fund to target early-stage start-ups in the UK, Europe and North America.
This will be Hiro’s second VC fund in three years, as its founding partners Luke Alvarez, Cherry Freeman and Sir Ian Livingstone look to target the next stage of innovative firms disrupting the gaming and metaverse sector.
Hiro’s initial fund – Hiro Capital 1 – launched in 2019 with $130m and has made 21 Series A and B investments into firms such as virtual reality start-up FitXR, Keen, Snowprint, Flavourworks and Happy Volcano.
Growing demands
Founded in 2018, Hiro has predominantly focussed on building its portfolio by backing companies within the gaming, esports and metaverse sectors for businesses across the UK, EU and USA.
It’s understandable to see why, as deals for UK-based video game start-ups rose by 63% in 2021, hitting a £1.9bn valuation within the year. And the demand for Web3.0 and gaming start-ups continue to gain mainstream acceptance as well as significant interest from notable investors.
To help address the surge in venture capital activity, firms such as Hack and Electric Capital have all raised sizeable funds to back early-stage companies. There are also the big-league players such as Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z, Paradigm and FTX, all of which have raised more than $1bn to help back these early stage start-ups.
Sequoia Capital also closed its first dedicated fund to back crypto firms, which is reportedly worth around $500m, and earlier this year, Microsoft acquired gaming firm Activision Blizzard for a staggering $75bn, the biggest-ever deal by the tech company.
“At Hiro, we believe that Games and Metaverse technologies will be at the heart of the next generation of human communities. As creator entrepreneurs, we back early-stage innovators who are building these exciting digital futures,” said Luke Alvarez, Hiro’s general partner.
Hiro confirmed it will announce its first investment through its new fund Hiro II in April.
