Socios.com to invest $100 million in FC Barcelona’s metaverse

Socios.com has revealed that it will invest $100 million in FC Barcelona’s digital business, Barca Studios. The investment will give Socios.com a 24.5 percent stake in the club’s digital division and allow it to reshape the division’s metaverse and Web3 strategies to include more revenue streams.

Socios.com to invest in Barcelona’s metaverse division

Sports clubs are now trying to diversify their revenue streams by getting into the metaverse, attracting the attention of venture capitalists in the process. Socios.com has announced that it will invest $100 million in the metaverse, NFT and Web3 division of soccer club FC Barcelona, called Barca Studios.

With this investment, Socios.com will receive a 24.5% stake in the company, as the club announced, and it will allow it “to accelerate the club’s AV, blockchain, NFT and Web3 strategy.“This capital injection will allow the company to focus on developing new products that include these new technologies to create new long-term revenue streams.

According to Socios.com, Barca Studios will now have access to its Chilliz Chain, a new blockchain that will allow developers to issue NFTs and fan tokens, and build defi products and play2earn games.

Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of Socios, said:

Barca Studios can now leverage its technology, expertise and global reach to help implement the club’s Web3 content strategy and generate new long-term revenue streams that will benefit the club for seasons to come.

As a result of the announcement, the price of $BAR has increased by nearly 50%, from $5 to $7.20. The fan token allows holders to have a vote in certain decisions via the Socios.com voting app.

The growth opportunities of the metaverse

Barca has been heavily involved in the metaverse and new technologies such as NFT since the beginning of the year, when it announced the launch of a unit dedicated to developing products in this area. At the time, Joan Laporta, president of FC Barcelona, said that its digital orientation was a very important part of its growth strategy.

Laporta stated:

We want to generate new opportunities for growth. Our goal is to win titles and make our fans happy, but we must also take advantage of the opportunities offered by the sports industry. It’s a matter of survival.