Is Metaverse next version of internet? Odyssey co-founder answers - Silicon Canals

For Christel Sieling, co-founder of Odyssey, a Dutch instauration established successful The Netherlands, metaverse is not a product. The startup is gathering Momentum arsenic a 3D societal enactment mean for integer societies. If Cline’s OASIS allowed radical to flight their existent satellite with a VR device, Sieling and team’s Momentum could assistance radical physique integer societies.

A pivot from hackathons to metaverse

While it is hard to explicate the thought of a metaverse, Sieling says they began gathering Momentum successful 2020. From 2016 onwards, Odyssey ran the biggest blockchain hackathon successful Europe, arsenic portion of an innovation programme centred astir solving analyzable societal challenges utilizing emergent technologies similar blockchain. They did the Dutch blockchain hackathon successful 2017 and saw a full of 55 teams enactment and enactment from implicit 30 partners, including ING, APG, the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, and the Dutch Agency for Identity.

For 5 consecutive years, they facilitated partners and teams gathering blockchain prototypes done this hackathon format. The past offline variation that they hosted was attended by 105 teams, 50+ firm and governmental partners, 1,500 radical from implicit 30 countries and focussed connected solving analyzable societal challenges with blockchain technology. Sieling says Odyssey has been progressive successful the Web3 and blockchain abstraction from the commencement but COVID forced them to pivot retired of the hackathons.

Unable to bash the hackathon owed to lockdown, they decided to spell online with the lawsuit and physique thing themselves. “That we were looking for a spot wherever you cannot lone speech oregon chat oregon click and scroll but we are a spot wherever radical tin travel together, wherever each the projects, the radical and the enactment are. And that’s however we decided to physique Momentum,” Sieling says astir the pivotal determination successful 2020.

To physique Momentum, they archetypal went to a gaming workplace successful Amsterdam, but the workplace didn’t recognize the idea. So, Sieling says Odyssey, co-founded with Rutger van Zuidam, Stefan Kunst, and Anton Starikov, hired a Unity developer and started gathering Momentum, which is described arsenic a stack allowing “digital societies to create, physique and standard unneurotic successful an unfastened root decentralised metaverse network.”

An unfastened and decentralised metaverse

For Odyssey, metaverse is much than a merchandise | Image Credit: Odyssey

Facebook, which precocious renamed itself Meta, has someway claimed the thought of a metaverse. Sieling says this is akin to claiming the net but aims to reply Meta’s closed attack with an unfastened and decentralised mentation of the metaverse, wherever radical reclaim the ownership of their creations, their network, and their data.

With its stack afloat unfastened root and repositories besides afloat unfastened source, Odyssey has an accidental to physique a metaverse that is, successful Sieling’s words, “open, interoperable and not babelike connected immoderate circumstantial engine.”

When asked if consumers volition request to bargain hardware similar a VR oregon AR device, Sieling says they spot the imaginable of specified devices but it’s not connected the contiguous roadmap. The squad astatine Odyssey wants to physique the exertion stack that allows radical to physique their ain 3D worlds successful the metaverse and acquisition it done easy disposable devices. It volition besides let them to integrate Web2 and Web3 plugins to unlock a wide scope of Metaverse usage cases.

Finding endowment remains a challenge

Metaverse arsenic a conception is inactive evolving and until the manufacture reaches a communal explanation oregon framework, the thought of uncovering endowment suited to the manufacture volition besides beryllium a challenge. Sieling says they are looking astir Europe and beyond to find the close people.

“[We are] utilizing each sorts of antithetic networks and channels. I deliberation the biggest situation successful finding bully talent is uncovering endowment that fits your company’s circumstantial culture,” Sieling says. “I deliberation uncovering the radical that conscionable click,are highly motivated to marque it work, and besides clasp what you’re trying are a uncommon find,” she adds.

Odyssey is presently a squad of 25 radical but dissimilar galore different startups, it doesn’t person a people headcount. “Our extremity is to physique thing that matters and is embraced by the community,” explains Sieling.

She says hiring volition hap based connected request and not based connected growth. With the level being unfastened source, Sieling says Odyssey besides stands to payment a batch from the community. She says the absorption is to person a halfway squad that is beardown successful execution portion besides expanding its unfastened root community.

Multiple milestones successful abbreviated timespan

Odyssey entered the Kusama ecosystem with the motorboat of Kusamaverse | Image Credit: Odyssey

In the 2 years since pivoting from hackathons to metaverse, Odyssey has a batch to amusement successful presumption of milestones. Momentum made its introduction successful the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystem, erstwhile they launched the Kusamaverse successful outpouring 2022 with the enactment of the Kusama treasury. They are making disposable their 3D satellite builder to creators funny successful gathering their ain worlds.

“Metaverse is not conscionable a merchandise but a societal spot afloat of activities and opportunities,” says Sieling. To marque this a reality, the Odyssey squad is gathering enactment for on-chain and off-chain activities similar staking, parachain auctions, governance, and gatherings.

All these activities are designed similar a plug-in truthful erstwhile users physique their ain world, they tin prime which plug-in oregon enactment to allow. “It’s a spot similar WordPress for the metaverse,” says Sieling.

Thirdly, they are processing a token that volition enactment arsenic a web furniture connecting each the people, activities, and the worlds into 1 functional layer. Thereby allowing the users to link the antithetic worlds, activities and radical on-chain successful 1 web without the request for a mediate antheral oregon land.

Rise programme offers 360 presumption of challenges

Odyssey was 1 of the 9 startups and scaleups to articulation Techleap.nl’s batch 7 of the Rise programme. It is besides unsocial with its absorption connected Web3 arsenic opposed to Web2 technologies. Sieling says they had a bully transportation with Techleap and were notified astir the programme.

The co-founders past looked it up, did immoderate research, and saw an ” accidental to beryllium with different tech companies from the Netherlands.” She says arsenic a startup laminitis you cannot larn unsocial and the Rise programme allows the accidental to larn with your peers successful the industry.

“We truly emotion the attack of the Rise programme wherever you speech astir the challenges with your peers and different entrepreneurs who are successful the aforesaid boat,” she says.

Since metaverse is inactive successful its aboriginal stages, she acknowledges that immoderate startup founders find it hard to understand. She describes Web3 arsenic a caller integer system that eliminates the middlemen and each the transaction fees associated with them successful a decentralised manner.

She says “metaverse is the adjacent mentation of the internet” wherever radical determination from lone clicking and scrolling to being contiguous unneurotic successful a antithetic environment. Sieling says Odyssey’s enactment is 1 mentation of this metaverse and it volition instrumentality astatine slightest 5 to 10 years for the metaverse to scope a authorities of maturity.

Multiverse becoming a reality

With truthful galore milestones nether its loop successful specified a abbreviated time, Sieling is intelligibly focussing connected gathering a larger communicative with the community. When asked astir aboriginal goals, she says

“I anticipation that I tin amusement you a immense multiverse web of each kinds of wildly antithetic worlds that radical person created themselves, wherever radical are connecting successful caller integer forms and doing each kinds of things that I could person ne'er imagined,” she says.