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Thirdverse secures $20M funding, appoints gumi founder Hironao Kunimitsu as CEO

Date Type Companies involved Size
August 10th, 2021 investment Thirdverse $20m
Thirdverse secures $20M funding, appoints gumi founder Hironao Kunimitsu as CEO

Virtual reality game development, distribution and management company, Thirdverse has secured a total of $20 million USD in Series A and B rounds, led by JAFCO with participation from Presence Capital, Sisu Ventures, Incubate Fund and Animoca Brands.

The Tokyo based company also announced today that Hironao Kunimitsu has been appointed as the company's chief executive officer. Kunimitsu co-founded Thirdverse in 2020 with Kiyoshi Shin, Satoshi Ban and Masaru Ohnogi.

Previously, he established gumi In 2007 and served the company as President and CEO, taking the company public in 2014. During this time, Kunimitsu launched the Virtual Reality Fund, gumi Cryptos Capital and VR incubators in Tokyo, Seoul and Helsinki.

Kunimitsu also founded the blockchain startup FiNANCiE and was a major investor and board member for double jump.tokyo, the company behind the blockchain game called My Crypto Heroes. He will leverage his experience in gaming, VR, blockchain and expanding global businesses into new markets to help accelerate Thirdverse's growth.

Into the metaverse and VR

Speaking about the news Kunimitsu said, "Thirdverse is building a world-class tech development and publishing team that spans across gaming, VR and blockchain. With the additional funding from Animoca Brands, we also have the trust of key partners and the ability to accelerate the business. My goal moving forward is to bring Thirdverse properties to the global market and further drive our multi-year vision of the metaverse."

Briefly touching on the company's ambitions to create a 'Third Space' in the virtual metaverse, Masaru 'Nogi' Ohnogi said, "We are delighted Kunimitsu-san has joined as CEO to help us rapidly grow our global business and support our mission to create within the virtual metaverse.”

Best known for flagship title Swords Of Gargantua, Thirdverse currently has several unannounced VR projects in development. Tomotake Kitazawa, Partner at JAFCO Group said, “Kunimitsu’s vast experience and keen vision for the future of VR, which the best team has gathered around, and the VR market that has clearly begun to take off are just a few of the many reasons that attracted us to investing in both Thirdverse’s Series A and B. JAFCO will do its utmost to support Thirdverse as it takes on the vast market of the VR metaverse that is steadily approaching.”


Managing Editor

Steve is an award-winning editor and copywriter with nearly 25 years’ experience specialising in consumer technology and video games. He was part of a BAFTA nominated developer studio. In addition to editing TheVirtualReport.biz, Steve contributes to BeyondGames.biz, PocketGamer.biz, PCGamesInsider.biz and BlockchainGamer.biz, as well as creating marketing content for a range of SMEs and agencies.