By now, you’ve probably heard plenty of buzz about the metaverse — the next generation of the internet where users are immersed in a new world. But while this sci-fi vision feels so close to becoming a reality, we’re not quite there yet. Luckily, a new generation of startups (and several established tech companies) are set on bringing the metaverse into fruition. Peer, Inc. is one of those companies.
Seattle-based Peer announced its official launch from stealth mode on Thursday. The company is led by CEO and founder Tony Tran, who has over 20 years of experience working in product strategy, development and design. Tran believes that the metaverse has the potential to merge the physical and digital world, and he wants to help create a future where that can happen.
“Ever since the digital world came into existence, we’ve yearned for ways to bridge the gap between physical and digital realities,” Tran said in a statement. “The metaverse is the convergence of these realms. It will foster unimaginable technological progress and help bring the rest of the world to the table. It will draw us more into the real world instead of taking us further away from it.”
Tran founded Peer in order to build the hardware and software necessary to create the metaverse, and he’s gained financial support for this cause. Peer has already raised $12 million in pre-seed funding from unnamed investors, which the company will use to fund its product roadmap.
Peer has mapped out the future of its company based on three stages.
Its first stage is called “The Social Metaverse,” where Peer will develop software to connect people to each other on metaverse platforms. The company sees businesses and creators interacting on these platforms, generating money and buzz about the metaverse. Peer has already began software development for this stage, and expects to launch it in Q1 2022.
Next comes “The Ambient Metaverse,” which uses Ambient Computing to allow people to interact with different aspects of the metaverse depending on where they are in the physical world. Peer thinks that this will require a new generation of devices that go beyond our smartphones and tablets, and it says that it’s already working on hardware for this stage.
The third and final stage is “The Singularity Metaverse,” where the metaverse matures and creates a world where the digital realm and physical realm are hyper-connected. While this seems like a sci-fi dream, many technologists believe this will happen not-too-far in the future. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son predicts that the singularity will occur by 2047, and Tran agrees with this assessment.
Peer’s three-stage plans may seem to escalate from cutting-edge to tech fantasy relatively quickly, but Tran points out that these stages represent visions that will take decades to make real. So whether you share this vision or not is besides the point, because thanks to companies like Peer, the metaverse train has already left the station.
“We are in the middle of a digital revolution,” Tran said in a statement. “Peer will accelerate the advent of the metaverse by building platforms and devices that put us back in touch with ourselves, each other and the world around us. Do reach out and join us.”
