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If you feel left behind by the , don鈥檛 worry, you may have another chance鈥攙irtually at least.

Although you may not want to wait too long.

Last week, banking giant made headlines when it with , a San Francisco-based startup, to acquire a plot of virtual real estate in its metaverse. That announcement came on the heels of creating a lounge in 鈥攁 different metaverse world鈥攖hat even featured a picture of CEO just last month.

While other brands also have opened stores or showrooms in different metaverses, when banks鈥攏ormally not the quickest of adopters鈥攎ove in, it may be time to take notice.

鈥淚 get calls every day from brands, companies, artists, athletes, retailers, banks, investors鈥攅very segment鈥攍ooking to get into this space,鈥� said , co-founder, chief strategy officer and head of product at .

The New York-based company鈥攚hich closed a $60 million Series A led by at a valuation of 鈥渉undreds of millions鈥濃�攂uys and develops land in metaverses. The company currently is invested in 25 different metaverses鈥攊ncluding large, well-known ones such as Decentraland and The Sandbox鈥攁nd took part in the largest known virtual real estate deal late last year when it closed on $4.3 million for land in The Sandbox.

Time to buy?

That鈥檚 far from the only big deal in the space. In November, Toronto-based announced it bought land in Decentraland for about $2.4 million worth of cryptocurrency.

In fact, , real estate sales on the four major metaverse platforms reached $501 million in 2021 and are projected to reach nearly $1 billion this year.

鈥淲e are very excited about the realm,鈥� said Schwartz, whose company just this week added several celebrities including , , , , and others.

One thing to understand before becoming a land baron in the digital realm is there are parameters to buying and developing land in different metaverses. While it鈥檚 easy to imagine a metaverse has 鈥渦nlimited鈥� land, the truth is the creators issue white papers with descriptions that tell those interested in joining the community how many parcels are available.

Schwartz said it is possible for meteverses to expand their virtual land, but once created it is then governed by the DAO鈥攄ecentralized autonomous organization鈥攐r community that supports it. Any expansion plans would need to be agreed on by the group, she said.

Those parcels of land鈥攚hich can now go for hundreds of thousands of dollars each depending on the metaverse鈥攁lso can face different types of zoning-like restrictions concerning what can be developed on those parcels.

Schwartz likens developing land in the metaverse to how companies like , and differentiate themselves. While those companies have a platform, it is the content they produce that makes them popular. Developing land in the metaverse is a type of content-creating strategy.

鈥淲e want to do what Netflix did for streaming services,鈥� she said.

What to buy?

Many of the same guiding principles in real estate are applicable to buying land in the metaverse.

鈥淲e borrowed practices from the real estate industry,鈥� Schwartz said. 鈥淎lthough it is important to remember you are investing in tech鈥攏ot real-estate. You are investing in societal shifts.鈥�

When investing, Everyrealm examines comps and recent parcel sales. And the old real estate axiom of 鈥渓ocation, location, location鈥� also matters, as places like entry points and where people gather virtually are more valuable.

There also is the question of which metaverse to invest in.

While Everyrealm owns parcels in 25 different metaverses, Schwartz said the company currently is following about 300 metaverses in total looking at opportunities.

Parallels to social media

It also is important to remember what you are actually buying鈥攁nd not buying.

鈥淭he metaverse is not intended to replicate the real world,鈥� Schwartz said. 鈥淭he best metaverse experiences are ones you can鈥檛 replicate in the real world. The metaverse can be used as an alternative tool.鈥�

To that point, many brands, large banks, real estate agents and other businesses are already looking at the metaverse鈥攁nd real estate in it鈥攁s a way to reach different communities and people. That鈥檚 not dissimilar to how social media eventually morphed into a pseudo-advertising platform.

However, Schwartz believes the decentralized nature of the space will keep the metaverse a place where communities dictate its future, but she does note there is increasing interest from investors鈥攋ust as institutional investors eventually embraced crypto and other technologies Web3 is helping to shape.

She adds more risk-averse businesses may shy away for a while awaiting word on any potential regulations in the space, but for now remains bullish on the future.

鈥淥ur (Series A) round was significantly oversubscribed,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here was a ton of interest from a lot of people鈥攈edge funds, Layer 2 players, celebrities 鈥� We鈥檙e excited to continue to look at opportunities to buy land and develop content.鈥�

Related reading:

• Securing The Metaverse鈥擶hat鈥檚 Needed For The Next Chapter Of The Internet
• VR/AR Investments Increase Just As Metaverse Talk Heats Up鈥擝ut That May Not Be The Only Reason

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