Facebook launched a $50 million fund to “responsibly” build a metaverse – a digital space that allows users to communicate and move virtually.
The XR Programmes and Research Fund will invest in programmes and external research over the course of two years, the company said.
The social networking giant will through the fund collaborate with industry partners, civil rights groups, governments, non-profits and academic institutions to determine how to build metaverse technologies responsibly, it said.
For a company the size of Facebook, with an expected $150bn in revenue next year, maintaining growth requires a massive, greenfield opportunity
Loup Ventures
“The metaverse won’t be built overnight by a single company … we develop technology rooted in human connection that brings people together,” Facebook’s vice president of reality labs Andrew Bosworth and vice president of global affairs Nick Clegg said.
“As we focus on helping to build the next computing platform, our work across augmented and virtual reality and consumer hardware will deepen that human connection regardless of physical distance and without being tied to devices,” they added.
The metaverse is a set of spaces where users can innovate and engage other people who are not in the same physical space.
It might take 10 to 15 years to fully realise the metaverse products, said the company, adding that its success depends on building robust interoperability across services to ensure different companies’ experiences can work together.
Visitors wearing virtual reality goggles and handling controllers experience a VR presentation at a metaverse conference in South Korea. EPA
“We also need to involve the human rights and civil rights communities from the start to ensure these technologies are built in a way that’s inclusive and empowering,” said Mr Bosworth and Mr Clegg.
Facebook is focusing on economic opportunity, privacy, safety, integrity, equity and inclusion to anticipate the potential risks before metaverse is introduced.
Over the years, Facebook has invested heavily in its reality labs division. Nearly 20 per cent, or 10,000 people, of Facebook’s total team is employed at these labs, up from about 5 per cent in 2017, according to the US publication The Information.
Earlier this month, the company also launched its first smart glasses – Ray-Ban Stories – that let users capture photos, record videos, listen to music, podcasts and take phone calls without involving their smartphone.
Exploring new technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality will help Facebook to diversify its portfolio and add to it its sales, industry experts said.
“About every decade we believe companies need to reinvent themselves to address large new markets and satisfy investors for the long term. For a company the size of Facebook, with an expected $150 billion in revenue next year, maintaining growth requires a massive, greenfield opportunity,” the US venture capital company Loup Ventures said in a note to clients.
“We believe the metaverse is a sufficiently large opportunity for a company the size of Facebook to chase. Despite the recent hype the metaverse remains Facebook’s most potent and underappreciated innovation opportunity.”
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
