Meet your new BUD! This Singapore-based startup just raised a $36.8M Series B. They're building the global "metaverse" for all of Gen Z to create, play and interact.

• BUD has been among the top 10 social apps in 38 countries globally.

Who cashed in? Sequoia Capital India led the round. ClearVue Partners, NetEase, Northern Light Venture Capital, GGV Capital, Qiming Venture Partners and Source Code Capital also joined in.

• Their last round was a $15M Series A extension three months ago.

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📲  How it works

Sign onto their mobile app and create your own custom account and avatar.

Explore. Build or join a custom experience! These are the millions of virtual spaces (basically, mini-worlds) on BUD you can also turn into games.

• Go on a coffee date, attend a party, hang out with friends at a beach or be in a battle royale game!
• Users have created over 15M different experiences— from hangout spots to playing Plants vs. Zombies.

Create. Whip out that creativity. They've got easy-to-use no-code tools. Anyone can just tap, drag and drop to create unique avatars, outfits and virtual spaces on BUD!

• Add music, lighting adjustments, videos and more to your worlds.
• Users have built spaces like the Night Scene from the movie Tangled, the Squid Game bridge game, the Gryffindor Common Room, discos and beaches.

Own and interact. Own in-game assets, chat with other users, view posts and more.

• In-game assets have been traded over 150M times on BUD.

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😮  Did someone say NFT?

BUD is looking to add a marketplace for NFTs in-app for its in-game assets, bringing it closer to its metaverse ambitions. Oh, and this also takes blockchain to more "mainstream" customers Gen Z and younger.

• This takes them a step further from similar apps like Zepeto, Zheli and Roblox.

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💰  What's with the $$$?

Besides growing their Web3 products, BUD is looking to improve their creation tools and bring in more users.