UNXD Raises $4M to Bring Luxury Fashion to the Metaverse

Metaverse fashion company UNXD has raised a $4 million funding round led by Animoca Brands, Polygon Studios and Red DAO, the company announced Tuesday.

The raise is the latest bet by investors on the future of fashion in the metaverse, a growing industry that includes avatar companies, high-priced virtual wearables and even legacy name brands like Nike (NKE) and Adidas.

The Polygon-based UNXD calls itself a “business-to-business-to-customer” platform, collaborating with established brands while also creating its own non-fungible token (NFT) collections and marketplace, co-founder Shashi Menon told CoinDesk.

The company’s highest profile collaboration was an NFT collection with Dolce & Gabbana last September titled “Collezione Genesi,” which fetched just under $6 million at final sale.

Read more: Dolce & Gabbana’s First NFT Collection Sells for $5.7M

“The biggest outcome of that first release was proving it was possible to bridge the world of luxury and crypto, in a way that somehow felt native to both,” Menon told CoinDesk in an interview. “So that’s kind of what we’ve now tried to triple down on.”

The company is also planning a Metaverse Fashion Week with the Ethereum-based Decentraland virtual world later this month.

Menon and the company’s other co-founder, Nick Gonzales, both have backgrounds in the fashion industry.

Upcoming launches for UNXD include an additional Dolce & Gabbana release, as well as an NFT collection with luxury watch brand Jacob & Co.