It has started Metaverse 4 Finance Accelerator, the first Italian acceleration program of its kind - fostered by the Sella Group and implemented by dpixel, its Venture Incubator, in partnership with OGR Torino. It aims to identify and support the growth of domestic and international startups for the development of innovative, economically sustainable, inclusive and safe solutions and technologies within Metaverse finance.

Metaverse 4 Finance Accelerator aims at those startups able to forge disruptive innovations on the market through technologies applied to metaverse finance. Startup requirements involve:

• prototype ready for market launch within 6-10 months;
• a defined core team;
• a clear value proposition.

Startups already represent a pillar in the construction of the new digital environment and even the smallest business projects can play a significant role in the growth of metaverse finance: tartups are in fact core to this path and increase the speed of innovation of large companies..

Stefano Azzalin, CEO of dpixel, commented: "Through this initiative, the Sella group takes a further step forward to increase the country's capacity to innovate and to guide its growth and development, involving exclusive partners and attracting national and international startups representing a vital resource to invest on for economic and social progress. The metaverse is a radical change, a gym in which partnering to give life to something never seen before. For citizens and organizations, the risk is to not properly understanding it and therefore letting this issue losing relevance".

The initiative will run for a period of 6 months involving four phases: a first phase of Scouting & Selection entailing the evaluation and selection of the most suitable startups, followed by a second step of Business Acceleration to support the business plan and identify the 10 best startups. The technical validation phase of the products and solutions will then come next for the 5 finalist startups, which will receive a funding of € 100.000 each, before moving on to Matchmaking, exploring the opportunity of integrating the developed innovations within the processes of companies operating in the industry. The ten selected startups will benefit for over 16 weeks of the support of dpixel mentors and an exclusive network of partners able to help them in the development of their project.

Metaverse 4 Finance Accelerator was launched by dpixel: in its quality of Accelerator Partner of the initiative, has the task of managing all the design, implementation and investment aspects of the same. The Venture Incubator of the Sella group has been operating for over 10 years in the European market worth over € 36 million of yielded investments. OGR Torino will actively take part in the project enhancement to extend its impact on the territory and synergies with other active projects at OGR Tech.

The metaverse is a multifaceted, ever-changing digital environment designed to make people's experiences on the web immersive. According Grand View Research data, the metaverse is expected to reach a global market value of $ 678.8 billion in 2030. Based on a combination of high-tech factors such as infrastructure, interfaces, hybrid/virtual experiences and creator economy, the metaverse can enable new and unexplored market opportunities for the world of finance as well.

"The metaverse will include all technologies and will increasingly be a social platform that will rewrite our lives. For large and small companies, the challenge is cultural. We need to focus now on understanding the digital transition", said Lorenzo Montagna, one of the leading metaverse analysts and Italian Chairman of the VRAR Association, the first worldwide association bringing together 28,000 experts of AR and VR in 50 countries.

(Source: Sella Insights)