Admix – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 17, 2022

NFT Thought Leaders Becomes Go-To Web3 Event GMW3 Live

As Web3 has grown during 2022 so has your favourite website Good Morning Web3 (gmw3), bringing you news, interviews and exciting feature pieces. Today, gmw3 takes another step toward becoming the prime resource for Web3 by welcoming influencer network NFT Thought Leaders to the brand. This will see the network and its international events program rebrand to GMW3 Live.

Co-founded by Charles Adkins and John Kraski, NFT Thought Leaders has been acquired by gmw3 parent company Admix for an undisclosed sum. The network became a leading NFT (non-fungible token) community, building a 30k strong following within the Web3 space, and hosting 20+ in-person events across the globe including Los Angeles, London and Amsterdam.

Under the new GMW3 Live brand, it’ll continue acting as a resource hub for all things Web3-related as well as rolling out more events during the course of 2022. In conjunction with gmw3, there will be whitepapers, research, and technical deep dives to keep the community up to date.

“Networks are where ideas, plans, and deals are born. As part of Admix, GMW3 Live will leverage the extraordinary networking success achieved by NFT Thought Leaders and take it to the next level, says Adkins in a statement. “Our focus remains on putting people who matter together in an environment where business can flourish. In addition, we’re building an expanded content development team and will host a wealth of new market intelligence data and reports on the new GMW3 hub.”

As part of the arrangement, Adkins and Kraski will assume key roles at Admix, Global VP of Marketing and Director of Strategic Partnerships respectively.

“Charles and John are two of the most knowledgeable and well-connected people in Web3, who understand the transition from web2 and know how to on-ramp brands into the metaverse,” said Samuel Huber, founder and CEO of Admix. “We’re excited to supercharge the platform they have created and rebrand in under gmw3 to create the most important networking and knowledge resource in the space.”

To hear more about the announcement and the future of GMW3 Live join Sam, Charles and John for the live announcement on LinkedIn, starting at 9 am PST (5 pm BST) Friday 17th June 2022.

For all the latest updates on GMW3 Live events, you know where to come.

Disclosure: Admix is the parent company of gmw3. gmw3 retains its editorial independence.

November 23, 2021

Social VR World Somnium Space Collaborates with Admix on NFT Billboards

Social virtual reality (VR) platform Somnium Space has been developing its immersive world for several years now, building upon a crypto and blockchain backbone where users can buy land parcels to build whatever they want. Lately, though, Somnium Space has been ramping up its metaverse efforts announcing some pretty grand plans which include new investments, auctions and more. The most recent of these has been to introduce NFTs into its ecosystem, partnering with Admix on banner billboards that can earn users money through advertising.

NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) have become a major part of crypto investments of late, with pieces of art selling for millions online and in auction houses. Somnium Space’s partnership with Admix combines both NFTs and In-Play advertising into one seamless package, where users can bid for Small, Medium, and Extra Large billboards that can then be added to their land parcel. In turn, users will: “get up to 90% of the revenue that the NFTs generate paid in $CUBE monthly,” says an Admix blog post, all based on the NFT they select.

The Admix platform will then dynamically insert ads into those billboards to generate revenue, with the first official advertising partner being Cloud.gg, an esports organization. “Over the next few months, as these billboards get installed, we’ll be bringing more and more brands into the metaverse and into your parcels,” Admix notes.

Those NFT billboards launched last week, with 15 to be sold in total, dropped in bundles of three. You’ll find the Admix x Somnium NFTs on OpenSea with bidding currently underway for the next small billboard. How much will one of these cost you? Well, last week’s auction prices have been revealed and you’ll need plenty of Ethereum if you want to take part. That first small billboard went for 2.8 ETH ($13,000 USD), whilst the medium one sold for 6 ETH (almost $26k). As for the XL billboard, which managed a whopping 15.75 ETH ($69,500).

It’s likely that the next few billboards sold will go even higher as availability becomes rarer. The exclusive NFT drop will run until 18th December 2021.

This isn’t the first time Somnium Space and Admix have worked together, continuing a long-term collaboration. A couple of years ago the pair partnered up for AWE EU 2019 to showcase monetization solutions for creators. This is only the start of initiatives like this as companies continue to develop their metaverse visions. Inevitably that’ll mean encouraging users to free platforms that’ll feature advertising of this nature to build revenue streams. For the latest updates on this topic, keep reading VRFocus.

Disclosure: Admix is the parent company of VRFocus. VRFocus retains its editorial independence.

October 27, 2021

Admix Raises $25m Towards Metaverse Ad Solutions

For companies to realise their lofty metaverse ambitions they’ll not only need to spend money and hire plenty of staff they’ll also need to encourage the creative community to get involved. This requires the ability to offer different revenue streams, of which advertising is going to play an important role. This week, In-Play monetization company Admix announced the completion of a new $25 million funding round to help it scale and meet that demand.

The Series B funding round was led by Elefund and DIP Capital, with participation from Force Over Mass, Notion Capital, Speedinvest, Rocket Capital, Colopl Next, Sure Valley Ventures and Sidedoor Ventures as well as growth investor Kuvi Capital. The round brings Admix’s total funding to date to $37 million.

Unlike mobile a lot of mobile ads which pop up and become intrusive, Admix’s solution allows both virtual reality (VR) and non-VR Unity developers to integrate ads into their videogames – think billboards on the side of a building. This way developers can make free-to-play titles whilst still being able to make money.

“This funding round validates the incredible hard work which the entire team has worked so tirelessly to reach. We see the internet entering a new stage: Web 3.0 or the metaverse, characterised by real-time 3D interactions and a new creator economy, spearheaded by the video games industry,” said Admix CEO Samuel Huber in a statement. “We are establishing In-Play as the monetization layer for gaming and the metaverse. While many players in our industry are essentially agencies, Admix is building critical infrastructure for creators to monetize their content in the best way possible.”

Admix - Samuel Huber — Admix CEO Samuel Huber. Image credit: Admix

“Sam and Joe are exactly the type of founders we want to work with at Elefund. They created Admix and In-Play with their incredible vision for the future of digital gaming, and we believe that they will continue to play a significant role in shaping how consumers and businesses exist and interact in what the world will come to know as the metaverse,” Serik Kaldykulov, Founder and Managing Partner at Elefund adds.

In the VR space, Admix isn’t the only one looking to place non-intrusive advertising into videogames. Facebook was slightly more controversial in its approach by testing VR ads in Resolution Games’ PvP shooter Blaston during the summer. This was quickly reversed by the developer after fans complained about ads being in a game they had paid for.

For further updates on how creators are going to monetise the metaverse, keep reading VRFocus.

Disclosure: Admix is the parent company of VRFocus. VRFocus retains its editorial independence.

June 24, 2020

Developers can win up to $25,000 Through Admix’s User Acquisition Boost Initiative

For new indie developers working in the immersive industry, it’s not always easy generating revenue even if your project is attracting sales. One way of staying afloat is through in-game advertising which companies like Admix specialise in. Today, Admix has announced a new program to aid developers, a $25,000 USD user acquisition boost initiative.

Open to all developers – not just VR – using the Admix platform, whether they’re new or established, the program is “mainly looking for apps with early traction, and strong unit economics, that they can accelerate through funding and UA expertise,” notes the company.

Developers are able to win up to $25,000 simply by installing the Admix software development kit (SDK) – which is compatible with Unity and Unreal Engine – and then monitoring progress over the course of six weeks. These variables will include weekly userbase growth, session time, retention, and monetization vitals. Admix will then handpick apps to award the grant.

“While monetization has been our bread and butter, we have always tried to help the developer ecosystem, by sharing resources, or featuring indie developers. This is the next step, with us contributing financially towards the app success. We couldn’t be more excited about accelerating the next hit games,” explains Admix CEO Sam Huber in a statement.

The program has been made possible thanks to Admix’s recent Series A funding. The adtech startup secured $7 million from the round which was led by investment firm Force Over Mass with Speedinvest, Sure Valley Ventures and others also participating.

Launched in late 2018 with help from a $2.1 million investment, the UK-based startup originally focused on the VR and augmented reality market before expanding into more traditional videogames. Working with over 200 game developers, Admix attracts hundreds of advertisers including Fortune 500 brands like Amazon, Spotify, Uber and Universal.

For further updates of advertising in VR and AR, keep reading VRFocus.

Disclosure: Admix is the parent company of VRFocus. VRFocus retains its editorial independence.

June 17, 2020

Admix Secures $7M Funding to Bring “non-intrusive” Ads to VR & AR Games

Admix, the in-game advertisement platform, today announced it’s raised $7 million in its series A financing round. The news was first reported by Tech Crunch.

Admix has created a platform that lets developers insert advertisements into their games, something the company says can be done non-intrusively across all device types, AR and VR included.

While putting ads in games is nothing groundbreaking, Admix says it’s co-opting traditional ad-buying techniques. Its platform also allows them to do it at scale thanks to its Unity and Unreal-compatible SDK, which essentially lets game developers forgo popups and other interstitials that may otherwise ruin the gaming experience.

The London-based startup’s penultimate funding round brought them $2.1 million, led by Speedinvest and Sure Valley Venture, CrunchBase says. There’s still no word on exactly where the funds for the company’s Series A have arrived.

“The concept of putting ads in games is obviously not new, but the scalability of our solution is what is revolutionary, delivering instant and consistent revenue to game makers, or streaming platforms,” Huber said in a statement obtained by Tech Crunch. “This coupled with the fact that 1.5B people play games globally every day, means that gaming is becoming a truly mainstream advertising channel.”

In the realm of VR headsets, Admix also says it uses gaze tracking to verify how your ads are consumed, something that’s bound to change once a majority of VR headsets include eye-tracking. Most today don’t, which is why companies like Admix can only tell the general direction you’re facing.

The company already counts 5,000 advertisers among its ranks using the platform.

The post Admix Secures $7M Funding to Bring “non-intrusive” Ads to VR & AR Games appeared first on Road to VR.

April 24, 2020

View New York and the Statue of Liberty Like Never Before with NYC Bungee Next Week

New York City has some incredible landmarks such as Times Square or the Empire State Building, but due to the current coronavirus pandemic, nobody will be able to visit them for a while. One iconic structure is the Statue of Liberty and soon British developer Blackwall Labs will allow you to bungee right off the top in NYC Bungee.

NYC Bungee

Initially designed as a virtual reality (VR) experience for location-based entertainment (LBE) venues, NYC Bungee will be Blackwall Labs’ first widely available title for consumers to enjoy at home. A videogame which combines both exhilarating and relaxing moments, the core of NYC Bungee allows you to take the elevator right to the famous torch of the Statue of Liberty, soak up the scenery and then finally jump off for a unique daredevil challenge.

If you’re looking for something a little more energetic then you can always climb the statue as fast as possible. Or why not enjoy a scenic ride in a hot air balloon high above the Hudson River, even enjoying the New York City skyline at night.

Supporting HTC Vive, Valve Index and Oculus Rift, NYC Bungee is scheduled to launch on 1st May via Steam with Blackwall Labs collaborating with monetization solution Admix to help support New York-based charities making ventilators and PPE equipment for front line medical staff.

NYC Bungee

The two companies will donate opening weekend profits from the sale of the videogame as well as advertising revenue, the ads appearing on a blimp flying overhead. “Our game is set in this beautiful city and having spent the past year replicating it for NYC Bungee, we feel it is our duty to try to give something back as they face a tough time with COVID 19,“ said Sam Perrin, Blackwall Labs co-founder in a statement.

“We’re proud to partner with Blackwall to help monetize their VR titles and even prouder to donate the revenue to help people affected by the crisis,” adds Admix CEO Sam Huber.

NYC Bungee isn’t the only VR title Blackwall Labs is working on with two more planned for 2020. As further details of these projects arise VRFocus will let you know.

Disclosure: Admix is the parent company of VRFocus. VRFocus retains its editorial independence.

February 9, 2020

The VR Job Hub: VRFocus & Admix

Want to work for an awesome news website dedicated to the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) industries? Of course you do. Yes, that’s correct VRFocus is hiring! Can’t write but would love to be involved in the world of VR/AR? Our parent company Admix is also looking for new staff, so take a look at all these London, UK-based jobs below.

Location	Company	Role	Link
London, UK	VRFocus	Staff Writer	Click Here to Apply
London, UK	Admix	Digital Designer	Click Here to Apply
London, UK	Admix	Graphic Designer	Click Here to Apply
London, UK	Admix	Copywriter	Click Here to Apply
London, UK	Admix	Video Producer & Editor	Click Here to Apply
London, UK	Admix	Strategic Partnerships Executive – Supply – EMEA	Click Here to Apply
London, UK	Admix	Sales Manager – Agency Demand	Click Here to Apply
London, UK	Admix	Strategic Partnerships Manager – Supply	Click Here to Apply
London, UK	Admix	Unity and Unreal SDK Technical Support Engineer	Click Here to Apply

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub to check as well.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

February 3, 2020

Vive Developer Jam 2020: Three Days, Late Nights & Eye Tracking Dedication

Videogame jams are quite popular within the indie community, offering a chance for developers to not only network in a casual environment but more importantly, throw around some crazy ideas they might not necessarily make in their professional lives. January saw HTC Vive hold its first developer jam in five years, created in collaboration with Admix, Corsair and VRFocus. The jam saw 11 teams compete for prizes by utilising the latest virtual reality (VR) hardware, coming up with fun, innovative solutions over an intense weekend.

Rather than simply making any old VR videogame or app, participants had a little more structure thanks to the hardware on offer. Each team had two HTC Vive Pro Eye’s to play with – the company’s latest enterprise-focused headset – meaning eye-tracking needed to feature in some way. For additional points, they could also use a lip tracking prototype module, Admix’s advertising software development kit (SDK), Vive’s hand-tracking SDK or TgO’s upcoming etee hand controller to showcase novel ways of implementing these features in VR applications.

Starting late Friday evening the teams had until 1pm on Sunday to make a working prototype of their idea which could then be shown to the judges. Participants could use this time however they wished, with Goldsmiths University London supplying the Vive Developer Jam with a location open 24 hours. While some opted for rest (and much-needed sleep) others found the energy to work through the night in a bid to create a polished, playable project capable of winning.

Teams weren’t alone in creating these VR experiences as it was very much a community-style event. To help aid them from idea to implementation were a group of mentors with a wealth of experience, from Goldsmiths University, Unity, HTC Vive, Tobii, NBC Universal, North Breeze Entertainment, Litho and FundamentalVR.

The Vive Developer Jam wasn’t just about learning and using the latest VR kit, there were lots of goodies to win as well. On offer were some coveted prizes, with the grand prize winner taking home a powerful Quadro P6000 GPU provided by Nvidia. TgO provided an etee developer kit, Litho supplied its AR controller, Blend Media offered 10x tickets to Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds Immersive Experience and Tobii gave away five of its 4C Eye Trackers.

So onto the winners:

1st Place – Active Listening Training VR – Using Eye Tracking, Lip Tracking, Body movements and a custom experimental Machine Learning Framework, the team prototyped a VR solution that utilises virtual agents that respond to your non-verbal behaviour with different emotional states.
2nd Place – Munch Mania – A roomscale videogame which used the lip tracking module. Players had to each as much food as possible, avoiding the chillies which could set the player on fire. Using a Vive Tracker an external person could introduce milk to drink, cooling the VR player down.
3rd Place – Illusion – A VR puzzle game about optical illusions. The title exaggerates the effect of visual illusions in real life, so players can have an immersive visual illusion experience in-game. The videogame includes 4 types of optical illusion: Size Constancy Illusion, Impossible Objects, Figure-ground Illusion, Colour and Brightness Illusion.
Tg0 etee Award – Bus Boy – A shooting game set on a bus with 360-degree video footage providing the outside environment. Players are on a school trip and use the etee controller to aim and fire paper to cause mischief. Combined Admix SDK, Vive Eye Tracking and Tg0 etee controllers
Best Audio Prize – An Eye Mosity – A VR Simulator to practice anxiety management in a social setting using Eye Tracking and Resonance audio.

To see the Vive Developer Jam in action take a look at the compilation video below. For further VR game jam news, keep reading VRFocus.

Disclosure: Admix is the parent company of VRFocus. VRFocus retains its editorial independence.

December 11, 2019

Three-Day HTC Vive Developer Jam Taking Place in January Looking to Create Next-Gen XR Applications

Do you have a keen interest in virtual reality (VR) technology and its potential applications? Perhaps you’ve had an idea for a piece of software that you’d love to see realised but aren’t too sure on how to achieve it. Then you may want to apply for HTC Vive upcoming Vive Developer Jam being held in London, UK next month.

HTC Vive Developer Jam

Being run in partnership with Goldsmiths University of London, Department of Computing and VR/AR monetisation platform Admix, the Vive Developer Jam is open to working professionals, entrepreneurs, academics or students as they look to create the industry’s next XR innovations. Corsair will be the official PC hardware partner providing participants the equipment.

Attendees will have access to the latest HTC Vive hardware as well as software development kit’s (SDK) for eye/lip and hand tracking. Workshops, mentors and space will all be available ensuring the perfect environment to create a new videogame, enterprise application or any other idea they can think of.

“2020 marks 5 years since our very first Developer Jam in London. HTC Vive has continued to innovate with hardware such as the Pro Eye and our latest SDKs We’re looking forward to seeing how the developer community will continue to push the state of the art in XR,” said Dave Haynes, Director of Developer Ecosystem & Vive X, EMEA in a statement.

“We’re very excited to partner with HTC Vive and Goldsmiths University of London for this unique event, kicking-off 2020 with an emphasis on innovation in VR. Admix is a huge supporter of the VR community through VR/AR Pioneers, so co-hosting this Developer Jam is a natural extension of our developer-focused initiatives,” adds Kevin Joyce, Lead Evangelist, Admix.

The Vive Developer Jam will take place from 24th – 26th January 2020 at Goldsmiths St James Hatcham. The Friday evening will be filled with workshops then teams will be formed for a full weekend of hacking, with a winner announced Sunday night. You can register your interest at the official Vive Developer Jam Eventbrite page. You’ll then be notified if your application has been successful. For any further updates on the event, keep reading VRFocus.

October 11, 2019

Admix & Somnium Space to Showcase Monetization Solution at AWE EU 2019

The Augmented World Expo (AWE) returns to Europe of its fourth event next week, seen as one of the biggest events dedicated to spatial computing. Today, virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) monetization platform Admix and immersive social world Somnium Space have announced a partnership for AWE EU 2019 where they’ll showcase innovative monetization solutions for developers.

Somnium Space

The partnership will see both companies host a workshop for VR and AR developers, enabling them to learn about Admix’s methods for non-intrusive advertising within virtual worlds, its integration process and execution of live ads.

“We are excited to partner with AWE, for what is gearing up to be one of the top XR events of the year,” said Admix CEO, Samuel Huber in a statement. “This year, our stand will be showcasing some of our most exciting content creators working with Admix, as well as interview opportunities with both VRFocus and VR/AR Pioneers. We are looking forward to meeting developers building awesome experiences!”

Away from the booth, Huber will be hosting a couple of sessions for those interested in learning about XR advertising: ‘Can XR Save the Advertising World?’, discussing the future of advertising through immersive media, and ‘How to Monetize XR – A Step by Step Workshop by Admix’.

Admix - CyberCity8

Social VR world Somnium Space recently made headlines when it launched a rather unique Initial Land Offering (ILO) last Sunday, 6th October, allowing the public to bid on land parcels within its virtual world. Using the Ethereum blockchain network customers would then own the land to build on or sell on if they so wished.

“We are at AWE to showcase a huge new Somnium 2.0 update as well as our blockchain integration, a technology that is fundamentally changing the way people see, use and own digital assets,” adds Artur Sychov, CEO of Somnium Space. “Admix is a very welcomed tool for our players because it gives full control of non-intrusive VR advertising and instant monetization.”

AWE EU 2019 takes place in Munich, Germany, from 17th – 18th October 2019. It’ll feature a massive lineup of talks and exhibitors, and tickets are still available. For further updates of the event, keep reading VRFocus.