The startup intends to deploy its synthetic voice tools in chat applications and as in-game assets.
One company is making the transition from Web 2 to Web 3 and the metaverse, from contact centres and corporate training videos to Web 3 and the metaverse.
LOVO, the originator of artificial intelligence-derived speech non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has closed a $2 million extension lead by crypto venture capital firm Hashed. The investment increased the round’s total pre-Series A fundraising to $6.5 million.
“We intend to use this money to expand the voice-first universe and ultimately become the voice of web 3,” LOVO CEO Charlie Cho stated.
PKO Investments, a crypto investment syndicate, also participated in the fresh round, bringing a collection of angel investors, including Animoca Brands founder Yat Siu and Matt Finick, the former Chief Financial Officer of ROBLOX and Marvel Studios.
“We believe that LOVO will collaborate with a number of blockchain gaming and metaverse projects by introducing voice NFTs to their communities, allowing for a more advanced level of identity personalization in the virtual world,” Simon Kim, Hashed’s CEO and managing partner, told. “With real-time translation, active [non-playable character] participation, and exclusive user experiences through communication with other users and influencers, TTS (text-to-speech) technology will usher in a new era for metaverse initiatives.”
LOVO released and promptly sold out an 8,888 Voiceverse NFT collection in January. Each NFT had a distinct voice derived from a seed of 100 authentic recordings leased from voice actors, who continue to earn royalties with each sale of an NFT. The NFT’s AI voice model can be used to generate any form of speech material or to facilitate real-time conversation in chat applications such as Discord.
VoiceVerse TTS Tool
-What is TTS Tool?@VoiceverseNFT @BoredApeYC @ghosts_project #NFT #TTS #VoiceVerse #bayc #mfers #ghostproject pic.twitter.com/bshfvTJJlq— HOOD (@hood_fatNFT) March 30, 2022
Cho, LOVO’s CEO, explained that he considers voice NFTs as an in-game object, similar to how players can currently change their avatar’s attire. While voice changers have been used in gaming for years, LOVO provides a more natural-sounding, one-of-a-kind option.
“We want to be on the cutting edge,” Cho added. “I believe we are a little early in terms of market preparedness, but we want to collaborate with as many of these groups as possible, as our goal is to give billions of voices for the billions of virtual identities being formed.”
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
