Metaverse Startup Oorbit Raises $5 Million From Investors Including Mark Cuban and Deadmau5

Photo Credit: Deadmau5 / CC by 3.0

Metaverse platform Oorbit, which intends to enable “players to experience high quality games, events, interactive media, marketplaces, and more,” has announced the completion of a $5 million seed round that drew support from Mark Cuban and Deadmau5’s Pixelynx.

London-headquartered Oorbit, which is expected to launch its service “in late 2022,” unveiled the multimillion-dollar raise today. The startup says that it “has developed the only infrastructure that unites metaverse experiences and worlds into one place, removing barriers to entry.”

“With more details to come, Oorbit will be accessible in one easy-to-navigate platform on the types of screens users already own,” continues the company’s formal release. Oorbit’s single-page website currently features gameplay footage from multiple titles, overlaid text asking visitors, “What if you could instantly travel between many worlds?”

(Röyksopp’s “Vision One” complements said footage, and Warner Music Group’s Parlophone licensed the track to YouTube. WMG has invested in and/or partnered with all manner of metaverse/gaming companies and digital experiences, including but not limited to “collectible card gaming company” Splinterlands, The Sandbox, Fortnite, Roblox, and Wave.)

“Oorbit is the first and biggest doorway to metaverse content – a whole new way to discover, and experience virtual games, entertainment, events, creative spaces, and much more,” continues the new company’s homepage, with subsequent text promising players “no downloads,” “daily updates,” and “exhilarating content.”

New York City-based VC HOF Capital likewise participated in Oorbit’s raise, having previously funded companies such as WMG-backed Dapper Labs and Republic (the investment platform, that is).

Addressing Oorbit’s raise in a statement, Mark Cuban, who fronted capital for The Chainsmokers’ venture fund in 2020, said: “As the metaverse moves from our imaginations into actual entertainment, experiences and products, Oorbit’s founders have created an innovative platform where developers, publishers and brands can create and more easily deliver their most compelling work.

“Best of all, and core to their plan, Oorbit has put the user at the center of their technology so they enable games and even worlds that will delight all comers, and blaze a path for metaverse growth overall,” he concluded.

And in a statement of his own, Oorbit co-founder and CEO Ash Koosha (previously a VR producer at the aforementioned Wave and a producer with Warp Publishing) relayed: “Oorbit is demystifying the major technologies that will play the biggest role in the growth of Web3 and the metaverse; blockchain, cloud streaming, NFTs, fintech and more.

“We are combining the best parts of these complex technologies to enable episodic entertainment that is not just incredible but also approachable, for all audiences. This round of funding will support growth and platform expansion,” he concluded.