Mona raises $14.6M for metaverse platform for creators

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Mona has raised $14.6 million to build a metaverse platform for 3D creators. It’s all about building worlds, not walls.

Justin Melillo, CEO of Mona (spelled MoNA by the company), sees it as a way to build an economy for artists and collectors to meaningfully participate in a shared digital universe. Mona opened up for creators in October and it has more than 3,000 users building virtual worlds in its metaverse. The artists can turn around and sell their worlds, which are all connected in the Monaverse, said Melillo, in an interview with GamesBeat. I spoke to him on a call while he was in a cab making his way around NFT NYC in New York last week.

“Mona is a Web3 metaverse, world-building platform and network built for creators by creators,” said Melillo. “We make it super easy, and also free, for any creator to build mint and sell a high-quality virtual world as an NFT,” or non-fungible token.

The company doesn’t sell virtual land or tokens. It doesn’t charge creators for anything upfront, and it is building tools, systems, and protocols for the open metaverse.

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“We see creators and developers as the backbone for the metaverse,” Melillo said. “So we’re really excited to take a different position on things and move the conversation away from this emphasis placed on artificial scarcity, selling land, even selling passes for a creator to build.”