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Taiwanese VR expert builds first-ever metaverse in the world embracing games, limited edition marketplace, and “Phygital products”
Backed up by a team with strong VR technical backgrounds, Highstreet aims to become the world's top 3 metaverse projects. Luxury brands like Victoria’s Secret and L’Oreal are now one of their digital residents.
As COVID-19 chains people to home, Highstreet stands out as a commerce-centric metaverse. It aims to bridge the physical and digital world with games and e-commerce. The team excels at turning any space into virtual spaces, as they have been running an VR company called Lumiere VR since 2015. Travis Wu, the cofounder of Highstreet, is now placing Taiwan as the Asian headquarter of the metaverse world. Highstreet secured USD$5M in the last-year funding. To further build the ecosystem for metaverse, the startup founded Highstreet Ventures, which has invested in more than 40 blockchain startups.
Developed by a team of VR experts, metaverse Highstreet sells “Phygital Product”
Players in Highstreet could try on a digital sweater before purchasing the real one; they can buy an actual sofa in the metaverse while getting a sofa NFT. How can Highstreet make that happen?
Have you ever thought about trying on a digital sweater before buying one? Have you ever imagined getting digital furniture in your digital house before purchasing a real one? Well, Highstreet can help you with that.
Highstreet, a metaverse consisting of e-commerce and games, is selling “Phygital products”. Featuring instant liquidity and guaranteed authenticity, the products on the market are crafted to exist both in physical and virtual form. Players can purchase an item, either its NFT or its physical version. While the digital portion of a product has in-game utility, the physical portion is the real product sold in the real world that will be delivered to you if you so choose to redeem it.
Highstreet is also a play-to-learn MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game), through which gamers can earn High tokens and Street tokens. The High token has a fixed supply of 100,000,000 tokens, while the Street token is inflationary and will increase in supply as player counts grow. Both will be listed on exchanges and can be exchanged for cash. With e-commerce and currencies ready, Highstreet paves the way for a metaverse ecosystem.
A six-year bet on Virtual Reality brews Highstreet today
Rome wasn't built in one day. Back then at Queen’s University, Travis Wu was enthusiastic about Hackathon, an event designed for collaborative computer programming. Thrilled as sharing the big prizes with teammates, Travis enjoyed innovating very much. That’s the time when he started to adopt a startup mindset, eager to start a business.
He then went to Draper University, an entrepreneurship program based in Silicon Valley. “The infinite potentials of development lie in Silicon Valley,” said Travis. During the time, he also grew his network in Silicon Valley. Tony Hsieh, the late CEO of Zappos, was later his first angel investor. In 2014, Tony Hsieh invited Travis to his virtual shoes store, where the virtual shoes appeared on your feet through projection. When sitting on a little bench in that space, Travis gained the inspiration that VR could work in the retail market. As a result, Travis and Jenny Guo founded Lumiѐre VR in 2015.
“It was not an industry at all. We just make it one on our own,” said Travis. It was a tough beginning, as they were setting up this VR experience stand inside hotels of Las Vegas, with a little collection box in the front. Each VR experience costs 20 dollars. And they moved around like circuses to casinos, aquariums, and museums, for higher visibility and self-improvement. Persevering in its efforts, the startup holds faith in the popularization of VR.
As VR disseminates widely now, it brews a new way of marketing. Lumiere VR has been building VR stores for brands and enterprises. Well-known brands like Hershey’s Chocolate, Victoria’s Secrets, and L'Oréal are their customers. Not only brands, J.P.Morgan and smartphone and VR headset maker HTC also adopted their VR technology. After countless attempts on different occasions for six consecutive years, Lumiere VR makes itself the expert of VR technology, leading to the birth of Highstreet.
With solid VR background and a large customer base, Highstreet goes live armed to the teeth
Accelerated by COVID-19 and the vibrant NFT market, Highstreet made its debut in July 2020, two years faster than the team originally planned. Highstreet manages to grab earnest attention from gamers, investors, and NFT collectors with its solid VR technology and diverse client base. Brands like Victoria’s Secret and L’Oreal have already moved into the metaverse as well.
A 7,800 of Fomo ducks NFT collection, also known as Highstreet’s official mascot, sold out with the trade volume more than USD$730,000. Travis has been following blockchains with interest since 2015. He once bought EHT (Ethereum) at the price of three dollars, the crypto coin that now values more than USD$2,400 each. The team has been also developing smart contracts, self-executing programs stored on blockchains. Based on their technology and experiences of blockchains, Highstreet enters the market with competitive advantages.
“We, the gamers, would like to conquer the nonexistence and make the unprecedented things come true,” said the founder of Highstreet. They make the very first metaverse with a decentralized marketplace, with products, currencies and games ready. And Highstreet is still building on what they have now, to secure an ecosystem for metaverse.
GameFi will be the main focus in the first quarter of 2022. Highstreet announced the launch of IHO (Initial Housing Offering) earlier in January, attracting gamers to purchase the digital space and become Highstreet “residents”. The team will further work on details of the game, upgrading its amusement and connections to commerce.
Moreover, Highstreet has founded the Highstreet Ventures, to actively back up applications and development related to blockchains and VR technology. It has invested in more than 40 blockchain startups so far. Highstreet also invites their team members to be the shareholders of Highstreet Ventures, as a way to reward them for their contributions. The ecosystem is surely more dynamic, day by day.
Eyeing Taiwan as Asian Headquarter, Highstreet opens its Taiwanese office
Travis is a Taiwanese Canadian who visits back to Taiwan on a regular basis. Since 2017, Travis has been considering developing the market in the island. It was not until 2019 that Highstreet opened its Taiwanese office. Aimd the pandemic, Travis and the whole Highstreet team moved to Taiwan and stayed for two years. During which, they had recruited a team of seven core members, and the number keeps growing.
Highstreet positions Taiwan as the operation and communication hub in Asia. With its dense population and vibrant markets, Taiwan is a huge platform for cross-disciplinary collaboration, Travis commented. And it possesses the advantage of managing the Chinese community.
Expanding the layout, Highstreet is realizing its metaverse ecosystem step by step.
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