Layer changes how brands and game companies cut licensing deals
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Layer has a new way to tackle an old problem: how brands and game companies can get together and cut mutually beneficial licensing deals.
Back in May, the Brisbane, Australia-based company announced it had raised more than $3 million in funding for its marketplace for licensing in anticipation of the coming metaverse, the universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, like in novels such as Snow Crash and Ready Player One.
It was started last year by Rachit Moti and Chris Illuk, who were able to work on it full-time because they got into the Starmate accelerator. They raised the money from Carthona Capital, Aura Ventures, TEN13, Flying Fox, Black Sheep Capital, Luxem, and Tribe Ventures. The IP marketplace connects game companies that are seeking licenses with intellectual property owners who want to get their brands into new places, including games where hard-to-reach demographics are found.
“It’s clear that monetization has changed. And these metaverse-like worlds that people are building are trying to be really immersive, right?” Moti said in an interview with GamesBeat. “They’re trying to be really, culturally relevant. And I was wondering how they’re going to do all of this licensing when it is so hard to get one track. And so we actually started just reaching out to both sides and started speaking to Hollywood producers and film teams and toy licensors and game teams. And what we really found was licensing was hard.”
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