Watch the video recording of this interview on Youtube
Q3/2002 Upland.me, Inc. (Upland) has delivered 3rd party developer tools, car racing (Alpha), and metaventures (player-owned and operated shops), expanding its leading market position in the metaverse space. It is available via the web, iOS, and Android and is currently live in 20 US cities, Rio de Janeiro and Porto (Portugal), and can be played from anywhere in the world.
What is Upland?
Upland started as a “property trading game” (think Monopoly) developed on the blockchain and evolved today into a platform where creators, developers, entrepreneurs, and brands launch their own experiences and applications (think “iOS” for the metaverse).
It is one of the largest blockchain-based metaverses mapped to the real world with over 300k “landowners” with various game engagement points and surging up to 150K daily active users. Essential to Upland’s value proposition is to provide tools and features for the “entrepreneurial metaverse” where players can create and run their metaventures, like selling “outdoor decor”, collectibles, virtual cars, and other creations.
Upland is a strong proponent of the open metaverse and has developed an NFT gateway that allows users to import and export NFTs from and to other blockchains, such as virtual cars, digital art, avatars, and more. To date, they have sold over Four Million NFTs.
How it all started?
Upland is a globally distributed organization. Its headquarters are in Silicon Valley, founded in 2018 by three serial entrepreneurs. Dirk Lueth is also the author of the Amazon bestseller book “Navigating the Metaverse”; initiator and co-founder of the Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3 http://oma3.org/, and his two partners, Mani Honigstein and Idan Zuckerman.
Started as a small venture, Upland is now 130-member strong and includes its R&D teams located in Eastern Europe and South America. Other team members are also from across Europe and the US. Partnerships for Upland include Tilia, NFLPA, FC Porto, Hyperloop, and others. In a recent interview with Funding & Disrupting, the Co-Founder Lueth shares how the rapid growth of Upland surprised him. He tells how Upland was challenged with the young technology of blockchain and to manage the growth of its platform when it initially began to soar. However, with time and constant effort, Upland is keeping pace with its growth.
Some Investor Talk
Upland’s main investor is C3 Venture Capital (“C3”), a venture capital company focused on managing early-stage venture funds which invest in exceptional technology companies worldwide. C3’s mission is, among other things, to accelerate growth, development, and especially the adoption of blockchain technology.
Funding by C3 Venture Capital
Towards this mission, C3 manages the C3 VC Fund, which Blocks funds partly. One offers developers and entrepreneurs the funding they need to create community-driven businesses leveraging crypto and blockchain. C3 VC Fund focuses on early and growth-stage technology companies. C3 primarily focuses on businesses using US Blockchain technology.
C3 is managed by C3 Management GmbH, operates worldwide, and is in Frankfurt, Germany. They are currently in the process of raising their second investment fund with limited availability remaining.
Overall Outlook
The investment of C3 in the emerging technology of Upland is a partnership to be seen. These two companies are currently at the top of their game, and this funding is yielding even better results. C3 funded Upland, which uses US Blockchain during an early stage. In an interview, the Managing Partner of C3, Stefan, told how Upland did not even have enough documents for verification, but Upland’s strong business idea convinced investors of their product.
Upland is launching its third-party developer portal with an innovative idea, critical mindsets, and an ever-evolving team. This portal will allow users to explore Upland’s features like never before. We are waiting for more information and updates about the same.
For more information about Upland’s metaverse platform moment for the metaverse and web3 please contact Dirk Lueth at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirklueth/
For more information about C3 Venture Capital contact Stefan Schuetze at www.linkedin.com/in/stefanschuetze
Connect With Funding and Disrupting
Follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter
Email our producer