UAE VC Funds among strategic investors in the $20 million round for Saudi and UAE Web3 metaverse company

UAE VC Funds among strategic investors in the $20 million round for Saudi and UAE Web3 metaverse company

UAE Dubai Future District Fund, e&Capital ( formerly known as etisalat group) as well as other well renowned VC funds have invested $20 million in Web3 metaverse social app content provider VUZ. The series B investment round included international investors such as Caruso Ventures, Vision Ventures VC Fund, SRMG , Panthera Capital, Faith Capital and Webit Investment network.

In addition to the new investors, VUZ formerly known as 360VUZ is backed by investors such as Knollwood Investment Advisory, AlTouq Group, Impact46, UAE Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Media Visions, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, DAI, Al Falaj, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin, DTEC Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Al Rashid family and other strategic angel investors.

With this round, VUZ is now backed by a mix of investors based in the US and EMEA that will play a major role in supporting VUZ in its international expansion.

VUZ bridges the gap between the physical and virtual worlds to offer premium immersive content library in the world with more than 20,000 hours of immersive content covering entertainment, creators, and sports segments, and XR, VR, and AR experiences from virtually anywhere in the world. VUZ’s vision is bringing people together and connecting the world by providing authentic immersive experiences while removing the constraints of (TTA) Travel, Time, and Access to billions of people around the world.

Khaled Zaatarah, the founder of VUZ, stated,  “Our mission is to build a hyper connected product to teleport, empower, and entertain millions of users globally. We are very thankful to have some of the strongest international investors as part of our journey to build a global social immersive platform while leading the new technology revolution, accelerating the future of media and trends such as the Metaverse, and XR (AR and VR) while building strong sustainable growth.”

The funds will be used to fuel VUZ’s expansion plans in growing its core, accelerate the growth of 10% growth month over month in its recurring subscription revenue, investing in top content, hiring additional key senior hires, new social features, launching Web3 products, NFT projects to own and trade virtual assets derived from the metaverse and scaling with asset-light operations into 8 additional new international markets, following its partnership and integration with 45 Telecom Operators globally.

Zaatarah  adds, “Our plans for the future are 10X stronger than what we have been building for the past 6 years. We have built the base and now we are ready for sustainable scalability and growth at a scale-up stage. Special thanks to everyone that believed in us and to every member of our team.”

 The extended reality immersive platform VUZ reached over 1 Billion Screen Views and is aiming to reach 3 Billion Screen Views in 2023.

VUZ, an Endeavor global network company built a lean and scalable business model providing an important revenue mix, driving value as well as growth and has strong plans to scale its platform. Some of the mega plans for VUZ is building on its current IOS and Android social mobile applications are new features such as the video immersive live chatting, social in-app gifting, social commerce for creators, creators monetization and gamification plans, XR virtual technology, launching it’s SDK, scaling on the full ecosystem with META/Oculus and Qualcomm, Immersive Avatars, as well as launching its Web Platform that is expected to reach 2Bn Screen Views per year, and its Smart TV platform.

Kushal Shah, Head of Venture Capital, e& capital, commented “We are excited about investing in a tech company like VUZ that supports the creation of virtual content as well as enables futuristic immersive experiences. This is in line with our commitment to collaborate with visionary tech businesses that we believe will contribute to building a better and brighter digital future. We will continue to invest into the company’s success, partnering with them to help them achieve growth and enable meaningful progress that moves this digital world forward.”

Dubai Airport freezone to launch its metaverse

Dubai Airport freezone to launch its metaverse

Dubai Airport Freezone (DAFZ), part of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ), will be launching its metaverse called METADAFZ during Gitex 2022.

The launch is part of the Dubai metaverse strategy, and  aims to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and businesses to the free zone, by uncovering DAFZ’s unique offerings, products, and solutions to advance the Emirate’s leading position as a hub for competitive and constructive technology.

METADAFZ will enable clients from across the globe to conduct meetings via a virtual platform, offering a unique and semi-realistic experience regardless of the physical location. The innovative initiative offers an alternative to the traditional way of conducting business activities, and empowers company representatives to discuss future work prospects, as well as how to launch businesses and projects in Dubai.

Amna Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZ), said, “Since its establishment more than 26 years ago, DAFZ has succeeded in consolidating its position as a leading and innovative free zone, providing its clients with access the most up-to-date technology and initiatives. This initiative, which bridges the gap between the physical and virtual world, will contribute to the digitisation of businesses in the free zone and support global businesses to establish themselves in Dubai, via a smooth experience. This will place DAFZ at the heart of the technological revolution, and enhances our presence as a regional and global destination for attracting direct foreign investments and as an integrated business incubator operating according to the highest, standards. The launch represents a significant step forward toward defining DAFZ’s technological and innovative identity in the digital world.”

UAE Blockchain DeFi entity sponsors Future Blockchain Summit

UAE Blockchain DeFi entity sponsors Future Blockchain Summit

Dubai based Ultron Foundation, a Blockchain DeFi entity is sponsoring the Future Blockchain Summit being organized by DWTC in partnership with VARA (Virtual assets Regulatory Authority) from October 10-13th 2022

Ultron CEO, Shukhrat Shadibekov, stated, “We highly respect the people behind the Future Blockchain Summit. It is a brilliant idea to gather Blockchain companies and give them a venue where they can explore and share innovations (to fellow experts and enthusiasts) in the ever-evolving tech industry. We are happy to be included here, as the fastest growing layer-1 blockchain company is an honor for Ultron Foundation.”

Ultron will discuss at Gitex the latest developments in NFT and metaverse as well as the utility of Ultron’s Blockchain network.

The Ultron Football Metaverse project with Devla will be launched in the coming months. It will allow the players to play, strategize, and earn passive rewards. The features and the structure of the game give much anticipation from ULX users and metaverse enthusiasts.

Aside from the gameFi project, Ultron is also set to launch a one-of-a-kind NFT collection with world-famous tattoo artist Ivana Belakova aka Ivana Tattoo Art, in Dubai. The tattoo artist has worked with celebrities like Chris Brown, Rita Ora, Lil Wayne, etc..

Ivana Tattoo Art NFT collection is not just an NFT asset. Ultron and Cosmic Wire curated a lifestyle-based experience that comes with each NFT piece. It is a digital key to wonders that will make you wander and celebrate life with Ivana Tattoo Art around the world. NFT holders will also engage in a community of NFT enthusiasts and join a luxurious annual yacht party with Ivana Tattoo Art and the rest of the NFT VIPs.

To promote the NFT Collection, Ultron Foundation will bring Ivana Tattoo Art to the US, Europe, and the Middle East. There will be a series of events where NFT pass holders will receive one-of-a-kind merchandise and a chance to win a tttoo session with Ivana.

The project will be pre-launched on October 14, 2022, at Ultron’s Grand Closing Celebration in a private and invite-only yacht party attended by distinguished guests from the media and NFT space, executives, celebrities, and the one and only, Ivana Tattoo Art, in Dubai.

KSA’s Saudi National day to be held in Decentraland metaverse

KSA’s Saudi National day to be held in Decentraland metaverse

KSA Bold Group, a creative advertising agency, has partnered with King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives ( Darah) to bring Saudi National day to the Decentraland metaverse.

For Saudi Arabia’s 92nd Saudi National Day Celebration, participants will experience Saudi Culture in a new digital realm, the metaverse. The virtual Saudi National Day celebration will begin on the 22nd of September until the 24th of September 2022.

For this pioneering initiative, The Bold Group collaborated with King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah) to make the user experience come to life. This strategic partnership will enable an authentic immersive experience as both Darah strive to make Saudi Arabia’s history and culture accessible to the world, and to educate future generations on the full breadth of the Kingdom’s great heritage.

 Abeer Alessa, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Bold Group said, “We are activating the metaverse in an impactful way by paying tribute to Saudi National Day. Fusing our past with our future, we are honouring the storied history of the Kingdom, preserving our heritage and displaying it with pride for people to engage with in the new digital realm.” Our focus has always been to bring value to our partners and community, and this unique experience paves the way for others to discover exciting new opportunities in the market. In line with the Kingdom’s transformative outlook for the Vision 2030, The Bold Group embraces the change and strives to be the pioneer of new and emerging technologies in the digital sphere.”

The Bold Group’s multi-faceted Saudi National Day experience in the metaverse will be held on the ‘Decentraland metaverse. It will feature multiple layers of Saudi culture in an open-air museum, with each level displaying various representations of the beauty of Saudi Arabia. The experience will also feature exclusively tailored Saudi national attire, created and inspired by the different regions of the Kingdom. These iconic pieces will be made available as wearable NFTs for event visitors. The Bold Group will also be providing the POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol) as a limited edition collectible NFT for users to showcase with pride their participation in the world’s first Saudi National Day metaverse celebration.

Ziad AbuRjaily, Creative Technology Director in the Bold Experience Unit said, ” The idea to usher the Saudi National Day, a historically traditional celebration, into the new era of technology was inspired by the challenge of convening people across the Kingdom’s 13 different regions to celebrate Saudi Arabia in one virtual space.”

University of Sharjah to preserve UAE culture with Blockchain Metaverse system

University of Sharjah to preserve UAE culture with Blockchain Metaverse system

UAE University of Sharjah has launched a research project aimed to develop a blockchain metaverse system to preserve the UAE culture and heritage. Working with BSV Blockchain Association, the University of Sharjah plans to retain ownership of UAE culture in the form of digital assets, and then develop an NFT and physical marketplace where users can exchange physical originals as well as NFTs all in a metaverse environment.

Prof. Maamar Bettayeb, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies at The University of Sharjah noted that this was a very pragmatic use case utilizing technologies such as Blockchain, metaverse and NFTs. He states, “The University is serving the community and UAE’s national economy by implementing the vision of the Emirate of Sharjah as well as the UAE in documenting and preserving our history and heritage in both tangible and intangible formats.”

 Mr. Jimmy Nguyen, Bitcoin Association for BSV Founding President, added “We are very excited and pleased with the partnership with a premier institution in the UAE such as the University of Sharjah to develop an innovative solution that utilizes the latest technologies to preserve the nation’s values and history in UAE and the region. Launching a new start-up will help in creating many jobs for the new technology graduates and create new economy for trading antiques, historic and modern artworks in a digital format and in virtual marketplace as NFTs”.

Dr. Mohamed Al Hemairy, the leading researcher at the University of Sharjah explained, “UAE has a very wealthy culture and human heritage, characterised by numerous physical inheritances. Yet new generations and expatriates don’t know much about it, that is why we researched how we could deploy Blockchain to preserve the intellectual property and ownership of the Emirati’s Families inherited treasures and to design a virtual art gallery for the Arabic and Islamic culture, heritage, antiques, historic and modern artworks in a state-of-the-art digital format. These would be digitized in the form that would retain its intellectual property through Non-Fungible Tokens [NFT].”

The heritage and culture of the UAE will be in a virtual art gallery in the Metaverse built on BSV Blockchain.  

Mr. Muhammad Anjum, the Head of the BSV Hub for MESA, commented “Developing relationships and supporting the academic institutions is a key goal of our regional BSV Hub and an impactful way that the blockchain technology can grow in the Middle East. The University of Sharjah has brought a very strong use case to utilize the powerful features of the BSV blockchain. The Dubai Metaverse Strategy is an innovative initiative and a key step towards making UAE the first country in the world in the field of adoption and use of the metaverse. We are confident that we will see numerous engagements between BSV Ecosystem, and the University of Sharjah soon.”

Animoca Brands The Sandbox to bring its metaverse to Dubai UAE

Animoca Brands The Sandbox to bring its metaverse to Dubai UAE

Animoca’s brand, the Sandbox announced during the 62 edition of the True Global Ventures Conference that it will be bringing its metaverse strategy to Dubai, with the ‘Dubaiverse’. It will work with local partners including Khaleej Times media outlet. 

Animoca Brand’s Dubai-themed metaverse will follow the blueprint of its subsidiary Sandbox’s Hong Kong “Mega City,’ a gaming metaverse and virtual cultural hub based on the Asian financial hub of Hong Kong.

As per the news on Forkast, the  Dubaiverse will be built through local partnerships, In doing so, the Hong Kong-based blockchain game specialist will partner with firms in the film, music, entertainment, acting, finance, real estate, and gaming industries.

Sebastien Borget, cofounder and chief operating officer (COO) of Sandbox Paris, added, “Other planned location-based metaverses are in the works for Singapore, Korea, and Turkey.”

Dubai’s virtual asset regulator was the first regulator in the world to purchase a piece of land in Sandbox. Borget noted, “It’s been a key moment, and from there, we’ve been able to attract other major local partners and brands.”

Mehtap Onder, Managing Director for Dubai at GCEX, a digital brokerage firm, said they will also enter Animoca’s metaverse, offering virtual asset education in a way that couldn’t be accomplished before. 

The Dubaiverse will also have a local news partner, in Khaleej Times following a similar partnership between Hong Kong’s Sandbox and local newspaper the South China Morning Post.

“As publishers, business models are being challenged all over the world, and new business models come into this space, it’s a really important strategic move for us,” said Sohail Nawaz, Chief Digital Officer of Khaleej Times. 

True Global Ventures with a presence in the UAE announced its total investments in Animoca Brands have reached US$38 million.

UAE Metaverse solutions provider MetaEssence launches its G2B2C solution

UAE Metaverse solutions provider MetaEssence launches its G2B2C solution

UAE based MetaEssence launches the world’s first specialized G2B2C (Government to Business to Consumer) utility-based Web3.0 and Metaverse solutions provider.  

MetaEssence focuses on Web3.0 & Metaverse enablement through three main business domains: digital health, digital economy, and sustainability. Introducing innovative solutions to accelerate the government agencies and organizations’ digital transformation, and contributing to the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai to cement the UAE’s position as a global capital for the digital economy. 

Fatma ElSafty, Founder and CEO of MetaEssence, states,” Our vision is to enable simplified, secure, and reliable access to a wide range of Web3.0 & Metaverse solutions where our customers find synergies between their services and securely execute transactions with a business value add. At MetaEssence We emphasize our products value and end results. All our products are blockchain agnostic and we are very keen on building long-term partnerships through a well-established transaction-based model.” 

MetaEssence’s solutions for Digital health and specifically medical tourism will introduce a better patient experience using smart contracts, where patients will have secure access to quality healthcare providers anywhere in the world. Via Metaverse and mixed reality; patients can simulate their experience while the advantageous environment for smart contracts between patients, providers, and payers in the overall system will eliminate many touch points through a more simplified, secure, and patient-centric solution. Thanks to blockchain, Web3.0, and Metaverse technologies to make this possible.

 MetaEssence is planning to launch this year “MetaEssence Heroes Program” to leverage MetaEssence Superheroes group of Worldwide experts in Web3, NFTs, Crypto Risks, regulation, Data Security, blockchain, Mixed reality, and Metaverse to train the new heroes on the “why” and “how” to use these technologies in their organizations.

True Global Ventures with a presence in UAE invests $17.2 million in unicorn company Animoca Brands

True Global Ventures with a presence in UAE invests $17.2 million in unicorn company Animoca Brands

True Global Ventures 4 plus, (TGV-4 Plus) Fund with a presence in the UAE and TGV 4 Plus Follow On Fund (TGV 4 Plus FoF) have invested a $17.2m convertible note investment into Animoca Brands out of a total raise of US$110m.  The current investment further supports Animoca Brands’ mission to deliver digital property rights to the world’s gamers and Internet  users,  thereby  creating  a  new  asset  class,  play-to-earn  economies,  and  a  more equitable digital framework contributing to the building of the open metaverse.

Other investors included Boyu Capital, Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Temasek and GGV Capital.

The investment comes after Animoca Brands’ second closing at a valuation of US$5.9 billion (based on Australian dollar exchange rates at the time),  announced on July 12, 2022. The company is a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, gamification, and digital property rights in open metaverse.  

TGV is a distributed fund with a presence in over 20 cities, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Moscow, Stockholm, Paris, Madrid and Warsaw. TGV4 Follow on Fund includes $5 million investment from Middle East partners  making up 3.4 percent of the fund investment. 

TGV has been an early backer of Animoca Brands since early 2019 and has seen it achieve unicorn status in May 2021. Animoca Brands has derived much of its growth in value from the revenues of its blockchain projects and subsidiaries, as well as the over 340 investments it has made in the open metaverse.

 Valerie Hawley, Affiliate Partner, True Global Ventures 4+ speaking to LaraontheBlock says, “Current market conditions offers many challenges but also opportunities.  It is during these challenging times when the true leaders of the web3 space will emerge.  There is no finer example of this than Yat Siu and the Animoca team.  We at True Global Ventures are delighted to be able to continue to support their growth.”

Besides Animoca Brands, the TGV 4 Plus base fund has also invested in other leading companies such as The Sandbox (a subsidiary of Animoca Brands), Forge, Chromaway, Coinhouse, GCEX, Chronicled, Enjinstarter, Iomob and Dedoco and others. 

This is the first investment made by the new TGV 4 Plus FoF, which focuses on investing a majority of its capital into selected TGV 4 Plus base fund companies. TGV 4 Plus Follow On Fund will consider making additional investments in other late stage web3 deals as the opportunities arise.

The TGV 4 Plus FoF completed its first closing in June 2022 for US$146m. TGV 4 Plus FoF has 15 General Partners (GP) who lead the fund and its Investment Committee, investing more than US$62m of their money into the fund. This represents a total GP commitment of over 40% of the total fund size and over US$4m per GP on average.

Yat Siu, the co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, commented: “We are honoured that the TGV 4 Plus Follow On Fund has chosen Animoca Brands as its first investment and are deeply grateful for TGV’s continued support. Thanks to the shared network effect of the open metaverse, the funding of late stage companies like us also provides a boost to early stage growth, so we believe this is a positive development for the entire ecosystem.”

TGV General Partner Dušan Stojanović adds, “I’m impressed by the number and quality of strategic acquisitions and investments that Animoca Brands has made. It is one of the big winners of the market correction, and is likely to emerge stronger from this down market similarly to how companies like Amazon emerged from the Dotcom crash.”

WadzPay teams up with DIFC Fintech Hive to offer blockchain payment features in the Metaverse

WadzPay teams up with DIFC Fintech Hive to offer blockchain payment features in the Metaverse

WadzPay, blockchain payments provider operating in the UAE, has teamed up with DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) Fintech Hive and Emirates NBD accelerator program, to offer payment features in the metaverse. This is a huge undertaking given that the metaverse economy is predicated to hit $13 trillion by 2030.  

Moreover this is especially significant in the UAE given that Dubai announced its metaverse strategy in July 2022. As per the strategy Dubai wants to attract 5000 blockchain and metaverse companies to the city by 2027. DIFC has been working through its regulatory arm DFSA to ensure the proper regulatory environment for crypto tokens, security tokens, and is considered by VARA as one of the entities that can house regulated companies in this sphere.

Raja Al Mazrouei, Executive VP of DIFC Fintech Hive was quoted saying, “The 10-week global accelerator programme for metaverse start-ups reaffirms our commitment to support Dubai’s ambition to be among the top 10 metaverse economies in the world.”

We all know that for the metaverse to be successful, payment services in the metaverse will not only have to be seamless but extremely secure as well as compliant. Each metaverse will have to have a robust payment method or it won’t be a fully functional experience.

Noteworthy as well is that Emirates NBD has stated that it intends to build up its 3D capabilities, creating virtual worlds to augment the customer experience and enabling a decentralised payment infrastructure for customers to create, monetise, buy and sell digital assets and services.

Now let’s put it all together, Dubai wants to be a metaverse hub; the UAE has already piloted a CBDC project not only with Saudi Arabia but also other central banks with the wholesale CBDC project Mbridge which is in partnership with BIS and Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Thailand and Central Bank of China. The Mbridge pilot has already commenced with commercial banks in 2022.

So far 105 countries across the globe are exploring CBDCs, with only 9 percent of countries having actually launched a CBDC.

For those not familiar with WadzPay, it is an interoperable and agnostic blockchain payments ecosystem that was founded in Singapore in 2018 but is currently operating across Asia and the Middle East with offices in UAE. As per their website, the company has been working with large payment companies, banks, on CBDC rollouts and digital assets transactions and settlements.

So when Anish Jain Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer of WadzPay announced on LinkedIn, that the company is working with DIFC Fintech hub and Emirates NBD accelerator program to enable financial services in the metaverse, it was newsworthy.  

LaraontheBlock, asked Jain what this meant and how they were working with DIFC, his reply, “WadzPay established its presence in UAE in 2020 with its DIFC entity. The DIFC FinTech hive provided tools to grow our business. It is also the breeding ground for innovation. WadzPay Chain is purpose built for payments and is metaverse ready. Together with the WadzPay payments ecosystem it will provide users with optionality, agility and access into the metaverse while making traditional payments efficient.”

In conclusion, maybe we will be witnessing the first complete financial service and payment offering in a metaverse experience within the UAE sooner than we think. A digital wallet that would or could hold CBDC, stablecoins, crypto that users in the metaverse could utilize for the purchase of digital assets or representations of physical assets as NFTs securely and compliantly.

We will know which start-ups have been chosen to implement these projects with Emirates NBD as they will be announced during Gitex2022.

 In the end it is only when you can garner valued economic activity in the metaverse will the metaverse actually have any sort of true utility.

On the side-lines, it was also interesting to see that WadzPay had signed a strategic partnership with FIGA an enterprise in the Republic of Congo to tokenize the rights of reserves of potash, phosphate and iron which will be extracted over the next 25 years. WadzPay is expected to tokenize $4 billion worth of assets for foreign direct investment.

WadzPay also partnered with Algorand Blockchain where it will utilize Algorand platform in multiple proof of concept-stage projects including Asia and Africa-based CBDC launches.

Qatar University joins a handful of global universities in the metaverse

Qatar University joins a handful of global universities in the metaverse

Qatar University has signed an MOU with Metavisionaries, a community of change makers, thought leaders and industry experts who are committed to providing access to the space economy and frontier technologies to build socially inclusive competency and human capacity required to meet immediate and future sustainability challenges.

Metavisionaries is offering MetaEduVersity and space campus the Metaship which utilizes web3 and the metaverse combined with our physical SPACE INNOVATION LABS with our partners ICE Cubes.

Qatar University while espousing to be the first university in the metaverse, will actually be joining 10 other US based universities who will be offering metaverse experience in the fall of 2022. Prior to Qatar University announcement, ten universities are getting set to launch their own metaversities this fall to provide students and professors with a “digital twin” replica campus in which to attend courses, using a Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset provided through a partnership with VictoryXR and Meta.

The announcement said students at Morehouse College in Georgia, the University of Kansas School of Nursing, New Mexico State University, South Dakota State University, Florida A&M University, West Virginia University, Southwestern Oregon Community College, California State University, Alabama A&M University and University of Maryland Global Campus will be able to use the technology to attend courses synchronously from anywhere.

In addition the University of Tokyo also announced it will be launching a wide range of educational programs in the metaverse in 2022. The international Space University, also entered the metaverse with Metavisionaries in the Metaship for an onsite lecture. 

As for Qatar University, Dr. Omar Al Ansari Vice-President for Academic Affairs at Qatar University, was sent to the International Space Station through Metavisonaries’ partners, ICE Cubes and Malleth II Program in which he stated, “I am proud to be inspiring our next generation with Metavisionaries by bringing space curricula to the masses and providing them with immersive learning experiences to prepare them to create sustainable future and a better world for all.”

During her keynote speech that took place in the metaverse spaceship, Dean Sobh said: “As the National leading university in Qatar and top ranked in the region, we should take the lead in pushing boundaries and keep reinventing our purpose, curricula and pedagogies to remain relevant and prepare our graduate for success in an increasingly turbulent, uncertain and challenging environment. Web 3.0 will play an ever-increasing role in education in the next few decades. When the history of the educational metaverse is written, we would like to be cited as one of the ground-breaking universities.”

She added that the College of Business and Economics is partnering with Metavisionaries, Ice cubes, Space applications and other global partners to launch a Global Space Sustainability challenge that would bring together students from different disciplines and universities around the globe in the aim to come up with innovative solutions that tackle pressing issues related to one or more areas of Sustainable Development Goals.

“We need to reimagine business and should no longer make trade-offs between profit and advancing sustainability. We can achieve synergies between the two and leverage space to help achieve that,” said Dean Sobh.

Wasim Ahmed, CEO for Metavisionaries, said: “The pandemic accelerated the rate of technology adoption in the education sector. Web 3.0 and the Metaverse are paving the way for education to be reimagined. In that sense, the partnership with Qatar University showcases the university’s determination to play a leading role in shaping and enabling the transformation to prepare future generations for the future of work.”