Metaverse chief explores new world with fellow Arsenal fans

HERMAN NARULA got off to an inauspicious start at London metaverse firm Improbable’s annual investor presentation on Zoom last month.

- Simon Hunt

As he fired up his PowerPoint presentation, the co-founder and CEO flicked to the first slide, which showed an article by news website Insider.

“RIP Metaverse: An obituary for the latest fad to join the tech graveyard,” ran the headline.

“The once-buzzy technology that promised to allow users to hang out awkwardly in a disorientating video game-like world, has died after being abandoned,” the article began.

Investors would have been forgiven for thinking that Narula was building up to announce Improbable’s collapse.

Instead, he was defiant, declaring that much of the media, including Insider, had got it wrong on the metaverse. And he had the numbers to show it: the London tech unicorn’s turnover more than doubled between 2021 and 2022 to top £75 million, and for the first time, the firm was within touching distance of breaking even.

Last year, hopes for a vibrant future for the metaverse began to fade amid a post-pandemic normalising of online activity, and investors’ attention turned to the promise of AI. But metaverse platform developer Improbable was determined to show the metaverse was alive and kicking.