UK-based WiSE Partners Ltd has launched a growth-stage venture capital fund dedicated to investment in the Metaverse.
Founded by two senior executives from the creative industries and venture capital funding – Andy Wood and Patrick Bradley, WiSE sees, explores and evaluates a wide pipeline of opportunities across the Metaverse to provide capital for growth as well as specialist support.
The firm is already involved in markets including interactive story-telling and narratives, video games, alternative reality, digital humans, haptics, digital art and NFTs, 3D spatial sound, software tools and platforms, real-time applications and events.
WiSE, which also partners with corporates to give them access to metaverse focused companies, has already taken equity stakes in four companies, which will cornerstone the launch of its fund.
Andy Wood is highly experienced in the creative industries. He has been involved in the development and marketing of over 50 number one video games and records; co-founding USD, Mirage, The Producers, Actualize and WholeWorldBand. Wood is the former CEO of Image Metrics and Optasia Medical and has also served on the Board of Peter Gabriel’s RealWorld, Great Fridays and the music festival WOMAD. He served as Chairman and President of Cubic Motion who raised private equity investment followed, in 2020, by a significant exit to Epic Games; famous for the Unreal Engine and Fortnite. He is currently serving as Chairman of Factory Create.
Patrick Bradley is the Founder of Station12 which invests in and advises companies across the entertainment, sports and knowledge sectors. He formally headed the venture capital group at Ingenious, operating a private LLP, an AIM listed closed end investment company as well as SEIS/EIS funds. Bradley previously worked as an executive in the music, film and television industries, focused on M&A, with PolyGram (now Universal music), Universal Studios and Liberty/UPC. He has made investments across the entertainment sector including in TV rights, computer gaming, live events and music publishing. Bradley is a Governor of the University for the Creative Arts and a Trustee of OKRE. He was formerly a Trustee of InoFilm as well as the National Army Museum.
FinSMEs
11/10/2021