Palo Alto, California, January 6th 2022 / Upland has seen incredible growth in the last year with millions of users signing up to explore its open universe and over 5M NFTs being sold. 2022 is on the verge of becoming a web-super-app with the launch its open-dev tools infrastructure.
Upland, which has more than 3,000,000 users, has seen its user base grow to more than three million over the past twelve months. It is one of the most recognizable and fastest-growing metaverse platforms based upon blockchain technology. Upland is connected to the real world, with 20 US cities already live and international expansion planned with the openings in Rio de Janeiro (and Porto) in 2022. Upland offers social-economic immersion that is unmatched by metaverse and web3 companies. This is accessible via the Web and iOS as well as Android. Upland offers an open, true ownership economy with members from all over the globe.
In addition to emerging as one of the world’s most popular platforms for the metaverse, Upland has shown itself to be one of its most sustainable non-fungible token platforms, with more than 5 million land NFTs sold to date. The virtual world has a staggering 290,000 land owners. This makes it five times bigger than all three largest metaverses, The Sandbox, Decentraland, and TheOtherSide.
Value Creation and Valuation Extraction
One of the reasons for Upland’s runaway success over the last 12 months is its focus on mobile devices and the strength of its sustainable economy, which allows for value creation by users and brands. Upland is unique in that it allows value extraction with FIAT currency. In the past year, more than $7M USD was distributed to players in the Upland metaverse in 2022, on track to top $10M all-time USD by the year’s end.
Metaventures, player-owned businesses, is one of the fastest growing economic activities in 2022. Metaventures business activities increased by 300% in the fourth quarter due to Metaventures expanding into outdoor decor NFTs and soccer. They are helping to prepare the ground for an increasing UGC (User Generated Content), offering in the Upland metaverse by creating more value in the Metaverse.
This impressive growth rate shows that Upland is achieving its goal of being a bridge for users to move from Web2 to Web3. It has been able to attract more users than any metaverse platform, with 60% of its land owners not having any NFTs before Upland.
Upland’s Notable Partnerships
A big part of Upland’s growth has undoubtedly come from its partnerships, most recently with FIFA, to create an immersive FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Experience in the Metaverse. The partnership has provided football fans around the globe with new ways to watch the FIFA World Cup and show their support for their favourite teams. The Upland community and football fans have the unique opportunity to trade, collect and own FIFA digital assets as well as game highlights. You can also play gamified experiences, visit the FIFA-branded World Cup village and shops, as well as a virtual replica of Lusail Stadium. The experience sold 195,000 bundles, and 800,000 NFTs, with every drop selling out in minutes. The event’s collectible assets were highly sought after, with the pre-sale selling quickly with 68.253 registrations and only 880 Block Explorers sold per week. Other collectibles, including outdoor decors like country flags, statues, canopies and FIFA-branded tiles for decorating virtual properties, were selling like hotcakes too, with an average shelf time of just 20 seconds across all five FIFA World Cup stores.
Upland’s partnership in 2022 extended to non-profit organizations, creating a new fundraising model in a metaverse setting. Upland and its members raised $175,000 to support relief efforts in Mykolayiv. Players who purchased virtual property in Upland in order to raise money for the humanitarian cause also decorated their metaverses with Ukrainian flags as a way to show their support. Partnering with Susan J. Komen, the world’s largest Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Uplaners, who donated, proudly wore a pink ribbon as their Block Explorer (game piece) for Breast Cancer Awareness month. UNICEF-Brasil partnered with Uplaners to sell winter-themed structural ornaments, gnomes and gnomes on the Upland Marketplace. The proceeds from the sale will be used to fund professional education in UNICEF Brasil in web3 skills. This is a creative way nonprofits can get involved in the metaverse.
Third-party developers – Creating the Platform Moment for Web3
Upland, which was established the foundation for a game- and app distribution platform in 2022, also laid the groundwork. Upland has made distinctive design decisions. Developers and creators don’t have to create an exclusive experience for Upland, unlike other popular virtual worlds such as Roblox, Decentraland, Sandbox and Sandbox. Instead, the Dev tools enable any game or experience, new or old, to connect to Upland and its economy and community. Developers can use web3 tools like NFT minting as a platform.
Upland is already home to several game developers, such as established Gala Games and the indie game World of Football. With +160 more developers building with Upland’s tools, 2023 will be the year Upland becomes the Lobby of the Metaverse.
This is a new place to meet new people and to spend time with your existing friends
Many Uplanders see the platform as a way to socially connect with others and build relationships. Upland launched the first communication features on the platform in 2022 with chat. Upland began to implement its vision to integrate social interaction directly onto its platform. This eliminates the need for users to use third-party online platforms.
The incredible popularity of Upland’s partnerships, including the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Experience, along with its stunning user growth over the past 12 months, shows that Upland is rapidly making good on its promise to bring the benefits of blockchain to mass audiences through engaging experiences, new entrepreneurial opportunities, and social networking tools.
ABOUT UPLAND
Upland, an open web3 platform, is for the metaverse that has been mapped to the real-world. The company’s mission is to build one of the leading and most dynamic maker communities through a strong entrepreneur economy that allows players, creators, developers, and brands to manufacture goods and experiences, monetize assets, and provide utility and fun to other players. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with hubs in Las Vegas, Ukraine, and Brazil, Upland was named among Fast Company’s “Next Big Things in Tech” in 2021 and one of “22 San Francisco Startups To Watch in 2022” by Built In SF. Upland is proud to be carbon neutral and is a Carbonfuture partner. For more information about our sustainability commitment, visit https://www.upland.me/sustainability. Upland can be accessed on iOS, Android and the Web. It is accessible from any location in the world.
This post contains sponsored content. This information is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice.
