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Also just spotted more details on Apples VR plans; https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-11-13/apple-reality-pro-headset-plans-3d-mixed-reality-world-games-video-service-lafgxl1e?srnd=technology-vp
“The most interesting job listing is one that specifically calls out the development of a 3D mixed-reality world, suggesting that Apple is working on a virtual environment that is similar to the metaverse—though don’t expect Apple to embrace that term. Its marketing chief said at a recent event that metaverse is “a word I’ll never use.”
“Here’s what we already knew: The headset itself is likely to be priced between $2,000 and $3,000 because it’s a high-end product that will pack a Mac-level M2 chip, more than 10 cameras placed outside and inside the device, and the highest-resolution displays ever featured in a mass-market headset.”
“We also know that the device will run a new operating system dubbed realityOS, which will include mixed-reality versions of core Apple apps like Messages, FaceTime and Maps. The first version of the operating system, codenamed Oak, is wrapping up internally and should be ready for the new hardware next year.”
Once their headset is released the masses will start to take notice IMO.
I’d say it looks pretty likely to me OT, I’d be surprised if the senior business developer was liking it if they weren’t involved… Seems to be lots to look forward to in the new year. I also liked the ambition to be working with 100 of the Fortune 500 companies in 18 months time vs 20 right now, that suggests explosive growth lies ahead. If they achieve that then no reason a NASDAQ listing can’t happen.
SC have a look at this and tell me what you think?
https://www.aldar.com/en/news-and-media/yas-island-metaverse
“Currently in the development phase, the island is being recreated using multiple world-leading metaverse platforms, including The Sandbox and Roblox,”
One of the partners is Miral
https://miral.ae/miralexperiences/
This chap works for Miral and is linked to DW and liked several posts on engage and here we have 2 likes from EXR staff
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/activity:6996672869107707904
The last one is very interesting
Could it be a large and prestigious project ?
The release of LINK is only one piece of the jigsaw and in my mind it's release is like planting a flag on the moon, it's symbolic and marks the start of the next chapter. It's about executing in line with expectations and shows management can be trusted to deliver what they promise.
For a v0.1 I was very happy, there are always going to be improvements to make and it's far more important to launch on time (and with a strong launch partner list) than suffer from organisational OCD trying to get it perfect.
As for breakeven, there is a clear path to €20m+ revenues as far as my high level assumptions go...
€10m+ from education (university license fees etc), €10m+ from enterprise (this is already their target for 2023-25 so could well be exceeded with LINK).
It's also worth bearing in mind what the impact would be if a couple of our named multinational launch partners signed long term license contracts... i.e. KPMG US have 35k employees, a €3.5M contract to give them all an ENGAGE license would be chicken feed vs what they spend with the likes of Microsoft, Adobe etc.
Further there is precedent for peers such as Accenture making large investments in VR, i.e. https://www.consultancy.uk/news/29463/accenture-buys-60000-oculus-headsets-for-vr-training
€20m turnover at 80% gross margins would provide enough gross profit to cover a fairly large organisation (first half overheads were €4.2m). I'd expect a market cap multiples of the current £45m if we can get there.
The website virtual reality pulse reviewed engage link. Outcome below
https://www.virtualrealitypulse.com/?open-article-id=22568045&article-title=engage-link-hands-on--an-early-look-at-the--linkedin-of-the-metaverse-&blog-domain=skarredghost.com&blog-title=the-ghost-howls
The issue meta is having with that strategy is their revenues is falling...and they still wanted to significantly increase costs.
In my opinion I don't think they will aim to be breakeven at this small stage or in the near future as they will most likely continue to increase their operational costs I.e. hire more tech and sales staff in order to accelerate growth. However that strategy would only work and increase valuation if the revenue accelerates strongly as well.
Thanks for reply WG as I see it business is going very well however the biggest question is regarding Break even . Is Engage link enough to bring that forward and stop the worry of further dilution via another fundraise.
The positive is DW has been very honest with the targets and has indeed met or exceeded them.
I will be joining. I have about 5 questions. Some financial and some business but all metaverse related so hoping they can both still answer
Is anyone else tuning into the investors meet tomorrow?
I see it is with David and Chris so doubtful any financial questions re Engage link will be on the Agenda.
Yes I meant I think they will need to hire more sales and marketing staff to ensure the metaverse continues to sign up clients at speed. This is in addition to the self discovery growth that some clients will pursue.
I look forward to their presentation on Thursday to gain more clarity on the efficiency of their sales process.
Glad to have inspired you WG213.
I’m not really sure I understand your point on there needing to be a lot of sales spend going forwards? Do you mean hiring more sales heads to push the product so companies fill the available spaces in the education / enterprise plazas?
As I said earlier, I suspect that once smaller online education brands realise they can set up shop near Pearson & Adtalem etc the spaces will sell themselves…
Development wise I find it surprising how much they have achieved on a relatively small budget to date but agree that building out a virtual world and constantly improving things won’t be cheap. 80% gross margins certainly help fund things though.
Ideally I’d like to see a handful of launch partners take a meaningful equity stake to help drive things forward, this may be wishful thinking but most of them have very deep pockets and it would be mutually beneficial.
Let’s see what happens from here, I note there are several comments from Meta employees on DW’s LinkedIn post as well as the mention of deeplinks / hypergrids / inter connecting VR worlds, so there is a lot going on behind the scenes.
ShearClass inspired me to download and install Link.
Oldtramp, Pearson says Coming Soon.
While I appreciate there has been a lot of work to get to v0.1 of Link, what is clear from an investment perspective is there is going to be a lot of development and sales spend going forward on the platform, which will likely mean more operational losses and fund raises at some point. However, as DW implies, this is similar to the beginning of the internet era and it will only get better with more companies coming in and more people visiting the virtual worlds. Hopefully the top line keeps up with the operational spend so as to increase valuation. Still feeling positive.
Have a look at Pearson mate that is one I was hoping for
Ah Fatboy Slim is the 14th launch partner - just re-read the RNS headline!
I used the desktop app which was fine, although a headset would definitely be better. Yep Pfizer, HSBC & Pearson are part of the 14 launch partners I’ve got 10 from the RNS;
Lenovo
KPMG US
KIA
Stanford Virtual Lab
HTC
Optima Ed
Adtalem
VictoryXR
MTN
Miami Herbert University
Plus
Pearson
HSBC
Pfizer
Didn’t spot an obvious contender for number 14 but there were quite a few companies with live or pending presences in the creative plaza (virtual world society, waking dream XR, mind wise, solar VR, Joy XR)
Thanks SC need to borrow. Grandsons Headset
Pfizer???
Just spent an enjoyable hour and a bit in LINK, very impressed overall. Visited the enterprise plaza first, Pfizer are the only company with a live portal at present but HSBC, KPMG, Lenovo, KIA etc all had 'coming soon' notices up, given a few months I suspect there will be some good stuff here as companies show off / promote themselves. I can already imagine smaller companies being attracted to opening a space for brand value alone given the indirect value add from essentially being in the same room as global giants.
The creative plaza was already pretty good, I liked the upside down city above which reminded me of inception, there are quite a few VR companies set up with portals to explore. Again you can already imagine this being a great breakout place in the future that could be full of surprises and reasons to keep coming back. I noticed a cinema sign that was currently out of reach but gives you an idea of the aspirations.
The final stop was the education plaza, of note was Pearson have a portal that is 'coming soon', I don't think that's been reported anywhere to date. The highlight though was Optima Ed who have by far the best designed and extensive metaworld in LINK, within it there are multiple portals covering everything from Ancient Egypt to science lessons, they've clearly invested a lot of time in developing it and it would be fantastic in full VR.
On the whole everything operated very smoothly without a single glitch and there were dozens of other avatars exploring alongside. For a first release it exceeded expectations, David and team have done a marvellous job. I'll check it out on a weekly basis going forward and see what changes I can spot...very exciting times indeed.
DW on launch
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/activity:6995441021983621120
Absolutely cracking RNS this morning. Hopefully this news is the catalyst for the movement north that we (and Finncap) believe it should be valued at
OHS
Looks amazing
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FM798SSv9rE&feature=youtu.be
Also worth bearing in mind no income from Engage link have been included in current financial forecasts.
New Finncap report out target 80p
Great to see the launch day arrive! Agree it's a very impressive list of launch partners, internationally & industry diverse and a great foundation for rapid growth. I'd not heard of Adtalem before but a quick bit of research filled me with confidence - a $2b market cap listed on NYSE who own the largest nursing university in the US... Looking forward to the investor presentation on Thursday to learn more!
Think it is fair to say that is a good RNS
14 launch partners = a lot of publicity!!
Thanks SC interesting listen good to hear VXR are branching out to medical and industrial vr training .
Haven’t quite got my head around how AR metaversaties will work but looking forward to finding out .As for the expansion to 50 byY/E that is quite phenomenal.
Excellent podcast released today that interviews Steve Grubbs on metaversities;
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/virtual-reality-universities-are-already-here-and/id1565851466?i=1000584854137
Plenty of positive mentions for ENGAGE and he reaffirms that the rollout is absolutely flying - from the 10 announced back in April they now have 38 live as of 31/10 and expect to be at 150 by this time next year... All hosted on ENGAGE, which he describes as like 'building on Android or IOS, a wonderful platform"
Some very very positive stuff discussed, safe to say the Victory XR partnership has been a massive success to date.
Worth looking back to Steve's comments on the announcement of the partnership back in April 2020;
"We view ENGAGE as the platform, much like the iPhone is the platform for world of apps. VictoryXR will build a VR school curriculum app on top of this platform which gives every school and every student access to the best equipment, the best teachers and the most effective learning."
30 months in and they've absolute nailed the execution to date, you wonder where things will be in another 2.5 years time? I was also intrigued by the closing comments around Victory XR opening their first AR metaversity next year, could that be one of the exciting pipeline announcements we are waiting for?