Flox, the fast-growing virtual platform has raised £1m to speed up its tech develop and publicly launch.
The UK-based team plans to enable brands and institutions to host events of up 100,000 attendees, offering a huge sustainability olive branch as well as an opportunity to slash travel costs, whilst maintaining the social connection necessary for collaboration.
Already piloted globally with 3 Fortune 500 organisations, including beverage giant Molson Coors, it is currently hosting events of up to 25,000 attendees, and doing bespoke builds of digital twins for corporate global headquarters and university campuses for international students.
“Flox offered Molson Coors a far more interactive way to engage with internal teams across EMEA & APAC,” said Molson Coors’ Digital Operations Manager EMEA & APAC, Matt Marlow.
The idea is to facilitate social connection by offering a platform that is far superior to 2D digital alternatives, or the likes of Zoom, by offering an experience that’s as close to in-person as you can get digitally. Attendees move their digital avatars, personalised to their face with scanning technology, while the in-built AI helps to introduce you to relevant people for meaningful conversations. None of this requires VR headsets, and can be done on your usual digital device, be it tablet or laptop. It was started by two ad industry leaders, Alistair Bryan and Jaie Genadt, ex-Havas, IPG and Omnicom, based on their deep understanding of effective marketing technology.
The model, which can replace or complement real life events for a physical-digital ‘hybrid’ model, enables the many advantages of digital. These include instant translation, conversation transcribing, data capture and limitless space, as well as participation stimuli to drive engagement, for example live polls and moderated Q&As. In addition to events, companies and universities can create ‘digital twins’, online replicas of their buildings, in order to host staff or students, where they can be virtually present.
“Virtual events and experiences are here to stay, and the sector is growing with a CAGR of nearly 22% YOY. It’s an exciting time for brands and businesses who want to be part of the metaverse today,” said Flox co-founder, Alistair Bryan. “Flox is here to help them, as our 3D virtual events platform is focussed on human connection and engagement.”
“The companies and brands we are talking to see the huge potential for virtual experiences and events for their consumers, employees, attendees and at the same time are conscious of reaching a global audience, reducing their carbon impact, supporting diversity, reducing their costs and measuring the effectiveness of their spend.”
