Alibaba leads a $60 Million funding for AR tech startup Nreal

Alibaba led a $60 million investment round in augmented reality eyewear maker Nreal. This shows that Chinese tech giants are digging deeper into the Metaverse. Beijing based Nreal has said that it has raised a total of $200 million after closing its series C+ round. 

AR technologies like the Light and Air glasses developed by Nreal are the key to getting immersed in the virtual worlds that make up the metaverse. 

Alibaba is beginning to secure its position in the Metaverse by registering several brands, including Ali Metaverse. Alibaba has also invested at least $ 1 billion in AR and virtual reality startups in recent years.

Alibaba is not the only Chinese tech giant to invest in the metaverse. Gaming giant, Tencent has also sharpened its metaverse focus with a new TiMi Studios gaming studio. 

Investment in Metaverse linked companies is increasing. In the last quarter of 2021, nearly $1.9 billion of venture capital funding went to AR and VR startups, according to Crunchbase data.

The metaverse market is expected to grow more than 20% this year by 2030. The estimated size of the metaverse market is $47.48 billion in 2022 and is expected to be $678.8 billion within eight years.