Virtual beings startup Soul Machines raises $70 million in its recently held series B funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Other new investors like Cleveland Avenue, Liberty City Ventures, and Solasta Ventures participated in the funding round.
Additionally, the round witnessed participation from multiple existing investors, including Temasek, Salesforce Ventures, and Horizons Ventures. According to the company, it plans to use its fresh funds to accelerate its growth in the Enterprise market.
Soul Machines will focus primarily on deepening its research into its Digital Brain technology. Additionally, the firm aims to launch the future of digital entertainment for the metaverse with hyper-realistic digital twins of real-life celebrities.
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Chief Business Officer of Soul Machines, Greg Cross, said, “We are in a transformational era where brands need to introduce different ways of personalization and ways to deliver unique brand experiences to customers in a very transactional digital world.”
He further added that he’s excited to continue working with forward-thinking, global businesses that recognize the power of digital people to communicate, engage and interact with the rest of the world. New Zealand-based technology company Soul Machines was founded by Greg Cross Mark Sagar in 2016.
The firm specializes in designing intelligent and emotionally responsive avatars that change the way people interact with machines. Soul Machines’ product allows companies to offer customer service, advertising, and entertainment using artificial intelligence attached to synthetic voices and visuals in the metaverse.
To date, the company has raised total funding of $135 million over three funding rounds. One of the most popular products of Soul Machines is Ella, a virtual assistant that the New Zealand Police Department uses. The highly capable virtual officer can interact with visitors to a police station via a standing kiosk.
“With strong R&D capabilities and advanced back-end solutions, we believe that Soul Machines is at the cutting edge for creating digital people that can support companies across functions including customer service, training, and entertainment,” said Investment Director at SoftBank Advisers, Anna Lo.
