Grabbing The Trillion-dollar Opportunity
It’s evident that the Metaverse is going to be a place where there will be clear commercial opportunities. With the global Metaverse market forecasted to hit $6 trillion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 45%, according to the research conducted by the Metaverse Insider team, many global companies are jumping on the bandwagon, making sure they don’t miss out on what the Metaverse has to offer them in terms of growth and new business.
The Metaverse Insider has researched many of the largest US companies to assess how these global companies are approaching their Metaverse strategy.
Of the 100 companies mentioned, sixty are active in developing a metaverse strategy, either by engaging in metaverse-related technologies, building metaverses (as in the case of Meta), experimenting with crypto (some of the banks) or investigating the potential of AR/VR, for example. The others — mentioned at the end of the list — have yet to fully engage with it, though it is only a matter of time before these follow the lead of the sixty that have.
All listed have been put in alphabetical order.
1. Abbott Laboratories
Multinational medical devices and healthcare company Abbott Laboratories CEO Robert Ford gave the first-ever healthcare-focused keynote at CES early in 2022, unveiling the company’s new line of biopharma wearables, a move that will see the Abbott Park, Illinois company head the organizations technologically in order to expand and improve patient care in this new technological paradigm.
2. AIG
AIG, a multinational finance and — like Allstate — an insurance corporation — is busy at work leaving its virtual footprint in the Metaverse. According to The Fintech Times, in June 2022, the platform launched the Uplive Avatar, which supports facial expression mirroring within virtual avatars.
3. Albertsons
The second-largest supermarket chain in North America after Kroger, this month Albertsons started selling and delivering groceries and other consumer goods in the Metaverse to customers, according to information from a company representative’s email. With the move, it becomes the first grocer to do so.
4. Allstate
Allstate Corporation, an insurance company, released a TV commercial in 2022 alluding to insurance in the ‘Metaverse’. Whether this is the first move of many for the Illinois-based corporation remains to be seen.
5. Alphabet (Google)
At the time of writing, Google’s metaverse strategy hasn’t been fully revealed, though having made several acquisitions to contribute towards Metaverse technologies, such as acquiring Raxium to obtain AR/VR hardware solutions, Owlchemy, known for its virtual reality video games Job Simulator and Rick and Morty Simulator: Virtual Rick-ality, Eyefluence, a company that has developed a suite of technologies for tracking eye behaviour for virtual reality and augmented reality applications, and others, as well as working on Google Iris and Starline projects to create gadgets that will fully immerse users in virtual worlds, it’s guaranteed the company founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin is going to be one of the major players in the years to come.
Even more proof of this can be seen with the company creating many VR and AR products, such as Google Glass (largely rejected by the consumers from the mass market), Google Glass Edition 2, and Google Cardboard, for instance, gadgets that are defining what the new paradigm will be about.
6. Amazon
Late in 2022, the retail giant Amazon launched a new online role-playing game. Designed as a toolbox to make cloud-computing skills easier for people to use, the game is titled AWS Cloud Quest: Cloud Practitioner. In the game, users can create their own avatar which they can then use to explore a virtual city and help its denizens solve tech-related cloud issues.
Other indications Amazon is following a Metaverse path is hiring people with experience in the Metaverse.
Beyond this, Amazon’s Metaverse strategy is clouded in mist but there is little doubt that the company Jeff Bezos founded as an online bookstore will be competing with Meta etc for domination of Web3.
7. American Express (Amex)
American Express, a multinational corporation specializing in payment card services, announced that it was preparing to enter the Metaverse in March 2022, according to a CoinDesk report.
The filed trademark applications for its logos and items included the Centurion black card and “Shop Small” program.
“American Express is always monitoring emerging technologies to see how they could benefit our customers, and the metaverse is a space we’re following,” an Amex spokesman told CoinDesk. “We have no plans to share at this time but are watching as this space evolves.”
8. AmerisourceBergen
AmerisourceBergen Corporation, an American drug wholesale company that was formed by the merger of Bergen Brunswig and AmeriSource in 2001, provides drug distribution and consulting related to medical business operations and patient services.
In an interview from early 2022, AmerisourceBergen CIO Mark Spykerman said that “the metaverse would play a role in business.” Whether or not this is an indication of the company’s future direction remains to be seen, it’s clear that the metaverse is on its radar, at least.
9. Apple
“The metaverse is “a word I will never use”, said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s Senior Vice President for worldwide marketing at the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event in October 2022, though its rumoured Apple Glasses — and the reportedly secret team of hundreds of employees working on virtual and augmented reality projects — means it’s AR — and not VR — that the company is interested in, hence the stepping away from the ‘M’ word.
Whatever the outcome, Apple’s strategy of integrating AR technology into its current mobile devices is a predictable one.
10. AT&T
In May of 2022, AT&T and Quintar, a sports entertainment augmented reality business that is revolutionizing how people interact in live events, announced a partnership to create and deliver in-game AR experiences to sports fans in stadiums and venues by using the capabilities of AT&T 5G.
AT&T’s Assistant Vice President of 5G Product & Innovation, Glenn Couper, said of the partnership: “The enthusiasm you experience when watching a game live is potent. Today’s fans are more data-driven than ever before, and Quintar has the tools to expand a fan’s viewing experience by layering the digital world around them, while AT&T 5G has the high capacity and low latency to customize the content in a way that blends the physical and digital worlds using augmented reality. We’re delighted to give what fans need to keep informed in a manner that complements the live action they’ve come to see.”
11. Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company, sees there are opportunities to be made by entering the Metaverse for the entire crypto ecosystem, according to Haim Israel, Global Strategist and Managing Director of research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who predicts that cryptocurrencies will finally be used widely for transactions in virtual worlds.
“I definitely believe this is a massive, massive opportunity,” he said. “You need the right platforms … that is definitely going to be a big opportunity for this entire ecosystem.”
12. Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Although not directly involved in any metaverse projects itself, Berkshire Hathaway owns stakes in several companies engaged in the metaverse, with Apple ranking as Berkshire’s biggest holding and presents its best opportunity in the metaverse.
13. Best Buy
A multinational consumer electronics retailer, in February 2022 Best Buy was “well placed to cash in from rise of the metaverse”, according to Anthony Chukumba, MD at Loop Capital Markets in a research note.
This is because the largest PC retailer in the US has stores where shoppers can try on different headsets and has a team of tech experts who charge for helping consumers with setup. As the rise of the Metaverse continues, it can be claimed that such services will be in more demand.
14. Chevron
Early in 2022, Chevron Corporation, the second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California, filed a new trademark application expressing its intention to enter the metaverse by offering virtual products like gas, fuel, lubricants, and renewable energy products, according to trademark attorney Michael Kondoudis, who shared it on Twitter.
Apart from this, Chevron plans to provide “retail and online retail store services featuring convenience store products, gas, fuel, lubricants and renewable energy products” as well as plans in the pipeline (no pun intended) to build a platform that enables buyers and sellers to conduct the exchange of “downloadable multimedia files that include artwork, text, audio, and video relating to retail consumer goods, including convenience store products, gas, fuel, lubricants, and renewable energy products by non-fungible tokens (NFTs).”
15. Cigna
Based in Connecticut, Cigna is a multinational managed healthcare and insurance company that is using virtual reality and other digital tools to help it reinvent the workplace.
One way Cigna is doing this is by using Oculus headsets to conduct meetings in the metaverse. While it’s in the early stages of this, Cigna’s intention is a clear indication the metaverse is something it wants to get into more.
16. Cisco
Cisco, a multinational digital communications technology conglomerate, published a post on its corporate blog in September 2022. In the piece, This is our chance to secure the metaverse, Jaeson Schultz, Technical Leader for Cisco’s Talos Security Intelligence & Research Group, wrote the aspect of web3 that’s most exciting–and most concerning to cybersecurity wonks like me–is the metaverse, an immersive 3D experience where people can explore, shop, play games, spend time with distant friends, attend a concert, or hold a business meeting. The metaverse is what bold virtual reality pioneers envisioned way back in the ’90s when most people lacked the compute power, storage, or network bandwidth to make it real.
Later in the post, Schultz added that “because the metaverse is likely to become a fully integrated and open environment, one in which a virtual good purchased on one platform could be worn or used on another, we must take the same approach to security. Proprietary solutions will have no place here. The very ethos of web3 demands it. At Cisco, we’re already creating that open, integrated environment for the multi-cloud future every business is adopting. It’s a perfect fit for the metaverse.”
17. Citigroup
In March 2022, Citi published a blog post entitled Metaverse and Money, so the multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City recognizes the importance of the Metaverse and sees the opportunity there.
Furthermore, in an April 2022 article published in Fortune, Citi said the Metaverse market size could be worth $13 trillion by 2030. According to a report from Citi, the Metaverse space represents the possibility of revenue up to $13 trillion by the beginning of the next decade and believes it has a major impact on not just key tech players and cryptocurrencies.
18. Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola Company, the iconic beverage corporation invested in the Metaverse with several initiatives. Coca-Cola was an early adopter of the metaverse as early as July 2021 as it teamed up with 3D design studio Tafi to launch its inaugural NFT campaign. This campaign was essentially an NFT launch which comprised various virtual products and a friendship card (a digital revival of Coca-Cola’s 1940 trading cards). One year later International Friendship Day 2022, the brand launched a new collectible featuring a design inspired by bubbles inside a Coke bottle. This project, called, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte, was an airdrop into the wallets of existing Coca-Cola collectibles owners. The owners were able to share an additional collectible with a friend. This launch helped Coca-Cola solidify its place in the NFT community and double its fanbase as users shared the additional NFT with other wallets.
Coca-Cola has continued to build its community as it partnered with crypto.com and digital artist GMUNK to release 10,000 NFTs celebrating the FIFA World Cup 2022. These NFTs, called “Piece of Magic’ were based on heatmaps of players during the World Cup. During the World Cup, FIFA launched an interactive Augmented Reality experience, allowing fans inside the stadium to look at players’ heatmaps. This unique AR innovation served as an inspiration for these NFTs.
19. Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest American multinational telecommunications conglomerate whose adventure into the Metaverse includes selecting a dozen metaverse and gaming startups for 2022 LIFT Labs Accelerator.
But that’s not all.
According to Erica Sivertson, Executive Director of Wireless Strategy at Comcast, the company is preparing its networks for an abundance of new use cases: “we think about it in terms of S-curves and what are the different use cases,” Sivertson said while adding there were various “points in time where people changed their behaviours” in the past, citing video services and the launch of the first iPhone as examples of shifts which impacted networks and service providers.
Sivertson also said no one is entirely sure what the metaverse is “going to look like and so we have to get that input from application developers, companies like Meta” and others to gain insight into the kind of immersive experiences they expect to provide. “And we’re starting to see a lot of this, especially with the VR headsets released this and next year,” she noted.
20. ConocoPhillips
ConocoPhillips is a multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. Currently, it is using VR in operations to train employees, streamline globally distributed operations, manage capital assets, and more, according to Innovative Energy.
21. CVS Health
New England-based CVS Health, a healthcare company that owns CVS Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy chain and Aetna, a health insurance provider, among many other brands, filed to trademark its pharmacy and health clinics in the metaverse in February 2022.
The move will see the pharmacist chain look to patent its stores as well as sales of virtual goods including prescription drugs, wellness, beauty, and personal care products within the virtual world.
22. Dell Technologies
In March 2022, Dell, Intel and Nvidia formed a partnership on a metaverse for professionals.
Dell’s calling it the Dell Validated Design for VDI with NVIDIA Omniverse. According to Dell — which is a technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services and is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies — the collaboration means Omniverse users can work together in real-time up to 23% faster, at least in terms of load times. Dell is also bringing its VMware smarts to the party, alongside some specific infrastructure built with Nvidia.
In a September 2022 Dell blog post, George O’Toole wrote that “Dell Technologies […] is excited about NVIDIA Omniverse Enterprise and its ability to enable collaboration for designers, engineers and other innovators leveraging Dell infrastructure. Dell Validated Design solutions for accelerated VDI, with NVIDIA Omniverse Enterprise and NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstations, have the potential to transform every stage of 3D production, a crucial step toward the metaverse.
23. Disney
The Walt Disney Company is a multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate.
During a conference call to discuss the company’s 2022 first-quarter financial results, CEO Bob Chapek said that the Metaverse “was at the forefront and has since appointed an executive to oversee the company’s metaverse strategy.
This was after Disney filed a new patent, which was granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in early 2022. This patent, according to GlobalData, “outlines the company’s plans to create a real-world theme park ride where users will experience a 3D virtual world, using simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).”
24. ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil Corporation, an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas, partnered with extended reality (XR) developer Groove Jones in 2022 to create an augmented reality (AR) immersive experience based on ExxonMobil’s efforts towards a reduced-carbon emission future.
25. Ford Motor Company
An iconic automotive brand founded by Henry Ford in 1903, the Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automobile manufacturer that sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand, luxury cars under its Lincoln luxury brand, and the latest car brand getting ready for its entry into the world of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and the Metaverse — filing, according to licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis in a Twitter post from September 2022, 19 trademark applications across its major car brands.
The American car manufacturer Ford Motor Company is the latest car brand prepping its entry into the world of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and the Metaverse — filing 19 trademark applications across its major car brands.
The move is mirroring what others — namely Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai and luxury car manufacturers like Bentley and Lamborghini — are doing as far as the metaverse strategies go.
26. General Electric
Operating in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energy, digital industry, additive manufacturing and venture capital and finance, in March 2022 GM showcased its vision of an all-electric future in a virtual setting at the ongoing Metaverse Fashion Week, which began on March 24th and ran through until March 27th of last year.
27. General Motors
Showcasing its plans of an all-electric future in a virtual setting at the ongoing Metaverse Fashion Week — a fashion show, tech expo and art exhibit in the Metaverse — General Motors is the largest automaker in the United States and was the largest in the world for 77 years before losing the top spot to Toyota in 2008.
The Metaverse Fashion Week took place in March 2022 and was a virtual reality (VR) space that connects people in a digital environment. Here, people could work together, shop and generally socialize, while giving brands and creators the chance to exhibit their designs and ideas in the Decentraland metaverse.
28. Goldman Sachs Group
According to a Bitcoin.com article from January 2022, Goldman Sachs sees the Metaverse as an $8 trillion opportunity.
“We think this could be as much as an $8 trillion opportunity on the revenue and monetization side,” said Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan. “We look at the digital economy today, which is roughly about 20%, 25% of the global economy … We see the digital economy continuing to grow, and on top of that we see a virtual economy that will grow within and alongside this digital economy.”
The multinational investment bank and financial services company, just like its competitors on the market, see Web3 and the Metaverse as sure-fire revenue streams.
29. Hewlett-Packard Company
In early 2022, Hewlett-Packard Company, also known as HP — an information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California — wrote an interesting post on its corporate blog HP Tech Takes, What is the Metaverse and What Does it Include? In summary, the company believes that
One of the most important things to remember about the metaverse is its social dimension. A metaverse is fundamentally a way for people to connect. But it’s more than just a way to chat with friends you may already have because it allows you to interact with those you may not actually know in real life beyond texts or video messages.
It’s also important to remember that the concept of the metaverse is still new in the world of tech. But as it continues to develop and grow, the technology associated with it will improve in kind. As we learn more about the metaverse and what it means, expect to see better, more immersive AR and VR tech, too.
Earlier, however, in November 2021, a Techradar article reported that HP and Microsoft were “taking printing into the metaverse with virtual reality using a new offering called HP xRServices.
30. Home Depot
Home Depot launched its virtual business workshops in March 2022 by creating a Project Color app that helps shoppers find the right shade of paint by taking a photo of the room and changing the colour in AR.
While not explicitly declaring its exploration into relevant technologies connected to the Metaverse, The Home Depot, Inc., a home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services and is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States, is sure to follow many other Fortune 100 companies into the virtual world in the future.
31. IBM
Like many American corporations, late 2021 and 2022 saw IBM — a company that produces and sells computer hardware and software, as well as cloud computing and data analytics — identify the Metaverse and its commercial potential.
The company’s Ava platform, which gives users the chance to create avatars for virtual meetings and conferences, as well as its Watson AI service, is being used by some metaverse developers and this is only set to continue.
32. Intel
Although Intel realizes the Metaverse exists in some form or other, the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue thinks the metaverse will need a thousand-fold increase in computing capability.
Raja Koduri, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group, wrote in a blog post:
“We need several orders of magnitude more powerful computing capability, accessible at much lower latencies across a multitude of device form factors. To enable these capabilities at scale, the entire plumbing of the internet will need major upgrades.”
This, however, didn’t stop Intel start working with Dell and Nvidia on new tools to help designers and creatives collaborate in 3D virtual environments by early 2022.
33. Johnson & Johnson
In March 2022, Johnson & Johnson announced it was entering the Metaverse with virtual skincare products when it filed trademark applications for NEUTROGENA and AVEENO, the company’s first step towards entering the metaverse and delving into non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
According to the trademark applications, the company intends to offer “virtual beauty, skincare, sun care, and cosmetics products.”
A month later, the company that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals and consumer packaged goods opened its first Innovation Room for Mexican doctors. The Innovation Room is a training space for doctors, surgeons and other health professionals that offers the latest technology in medical devices and training simulators for surgical procedures that leverages VR and the Metaverse for the common good.
34. JPMorgan Chase
JP Morgan has become the first bank to establish a presence in the metaverse, as it predicts a market opportunity of $1 trillion and is looking to invest in virtual real estate by opening a lounge in the blockchain-based world, Decentraland.
As the largest bank in the United States the bank’s Onyx lounge — the name of which references the bank’s suite of permissioned Ethereum-based services, offers institutions and businesses an opportunity to enter the Metaverse.
The Onyx Lounge is located in Metaiuku, a virtual version of Tokyo’s Harajuku shopping district. On the second floor, a person’s avatar can watch experts talk about the crypto market.
Besides the creation of the ‘Onyx Lounge’, JP Morgan has published a white paper detailing to clients the full market potential of the virtual space — describing it as “limitless”.
35. Kroger
The Kroger Company is a retail company that operates supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.
According to a TechCrunch article published in September 2022, Kroger and NVIDIA have teamed up on AI-enabled applications and services. The strategic partnership will build an AI lab and demonstration centre. Kroger is also reinventing the shopping experience by using NVIDIA AI and Omniverse simulation technologies to design and optimize store layouts and find new ways to improve the checkout process for shoppers, according to TechCrunch sources.
36. Lockheed Martin
Only recently, aerospace, arms, defence, information security, and technology corporation Lockheed Martin announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to build an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven Earth Observations Digital Twin that will provide the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with an efficient and centralized approach to monitor current global environmental conditions, including extreme weather events, as reported by The Metaverse Insider.
37. Lowe’s
This June, Lowe’s — a retail company specializing in home improvement — announced it was expanding into the metaverse with a tool to help visualize projects by making 500 assets available for free on its own metaverse hub.
“It’s all emerging, and it’s all up for exploration,” Lowe’s Executive Vice President and Chief Brand and Marketing Officer Marisa Thalberg told CNBC in an exclusive interview. The retailer decided not to choose one metaverse platform but rather “a kind of an agnostic and kind of democratized approach,” she said, before adding: “Our goal really is to take this new frontier and help people use their imaginations and help them make their virtual spaces as exciting and inspirational and enjoyable as their real-world spaces. And that’s the only benefit we seek to obtain at this point.”
38. Merck
In a June 2022 tweet, Merck announced its entry into the Metaverse:
“We’ve entered the Metaverse: discover a new #Minecraft educational series where explorers search for naturally occurring elements, uncover their importance, and unlock exclusive content! Tag a future scientist who needs to download this…”
A similar post was posted on Instagram.
39. Meta
It was obvious that Meta — formerly known as Facebook — was going to pop up somewhere. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes back in 2004, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, among other products and services, shifted focus late last year from social media and advertising to the metaverse.
Meta’s metaverse, in essence, is a digital platform that allows users to step into an immersive ‘virtual world’, where they can interact with friends, family and other individuals in a 3D environment without worrying about the constraints of location.
More proof of its Metaverse intentions is the Meta Quest 2 (initially sold as Oculus Quest 2), a virtual reality (VR) headset released in 2020.
It would be too much to write about what Zuckerberg’s company is doing to make the Metaverse a reality, but without its lead, the future of this virtual world and Web3 could be some months or even years behind schedule, even without the mass hysteria caused by the media regarding its poor performance on the market and the laying off of thousands of staff.
40. MetLife
MetLife, one of the globe’s largest providers of insurance, has been using Ethereum to transform the life insurance claims process since 2019. Met Life has no specific metaverse activities but it is exploring the relevance of crypto. This is a sign MetLife is aware of the technological implications of Web3 and Metaverse for its business.
41. Microsoft
Founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, Microsoft is already involved in Metaverse projects. In October 2022, it announced a partnership with Meta to deliver immersive experiences for the future of work and play.
In a blog post, Microsoft said:
First, we are bringing Mesh for Microsoft Teams to Meta Quest devices. Mesh for Teams builds on years of research and Microsoft Cloud innovation, from Azure Digital Twins to Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Teams video meetings. It is designed to help people gather virtually in the place where work happens on any device, including smartphones, laptops and mixed-reality headsets. Mesh for Teams with Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2 devices will enable people to connect and collaborate as though they are together in person.
In addition, Microsoft 365 apps will be available on Meta Quest devices, enabling people to interact with content from their favourite productivity apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and SharePoint within VR. In the future, Windows 365 will also be available on Meta Quest devices, with the ability to stream a Windows Cloud PC including your personalized apps, content and settings.
Other ways Microsoft is engaging with the Metaverse-directed products come in the form of its headgear/glasses HoloLens, which with the help of pre-built algorithms, cameras and sensors, can map the user’s real-time environment.
42. Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a multinational investment management and financial services company that thinks the Metaverse is more evolutionary than revolutionary, according to a post on its corporate blog published earlier this year, though it has identified an $8 trillion market for it in China alone.
43. Nike
Nike — the iconic sportswear company — is heavily involved in the Metaverse, with its Nikeland metaverse store the best example of how it is taking the lead in Web3.
Nike also recognizes the importance of digital assets. The company organized an NFT collectibles startup called RTFKT Studios. Nike launches collections of NFT sneakers in collaboration with RTFKT.
44. PepsiCo
PepsiCo, Inc, a multinational food, snack and beverage corporation, is connecting with consumers in Web3.
In May 2022, PepsiCo released an exclusive NFT for “Strength of a Woman Festival & Summit” Attendees.
Along with this, in a September 2022 article published in ADWEEK, PepsiCo’s CMO Todd Kaplan stated his company is working to make sure the food and beverage giant isn’t left behind by this fast-changing technology by releasing a series of NFTs called Pepsi Mic Drop, a generative-style collection of unique NFTs that live on the Ethereum blockchain.
As per the website, they are “a nod to the year Pepsi was born, each of our 1,893 genesis tokens is created using nearly 50 unique attributes across 6 categories, including microphones, stages, accessories, and more. Pepsi and music have been intertwined for decades, and our genesis NFT collection pays homage to our love of pop stars and musical legends while setting the stage for what’s to come in the world of Pepsi NFTs. This will be a Mic Drop of epic proportions!
45. Pfizer
In April 2022, Pfizer got in on NFT and metaverse domains, registering a few dozen of them. The domains include Pfizer brands attached to meta, crypto, and NFT.
While in October 2022, a piece published in The Debrief reported that Pfizer “is creating a $450 million sterile injectables factory, with a “virtual factory” component that will harness digital twin technology to optimize the supply chain as well as train employees in a more efficient way”, obviously the first step to full integration into the Metaverse and beyond.
46. Proctor & Gamble
A consumer goods corporation, Proctor & Gamble published the article Designing for the Future: How the Metaverse is Changing Consumer Engagement in May 2022, discussed how in 2020 it launched the P&G LifeLab, an immersive hub where consumers could learn about P&G and interact with people and products from some of our most iconic brands.
In the two years since then, the company has launched SK-II City, a virtual environment that honoured the culture and traditions of Japan, while also showcasing one of our premium Asian brands during the Tokyo Olympics, as well as the Charmin Forestry Experience, which took visitors on a journey through Charmin’s sustainability commitments during Earth Week 2021.
In that same blog post, Proctor & Gamble stated that the [our] company and brands are committed to humbly using these activations to experiment and learn in the metaverse. We want to be the first consumer goods company in this space that brings value to our consumers and the customers we serve. We will use XR capabilities to discover ways to engage with new consumers, develop new connections with existing consumers, and enhance and amplify physical experiences. It is exciting to truly be able to put an experience in the hands of the consumer — to explore and discover on their own and to have even more deeply personalized experiences with our brands, products and initiatives in a way that drives value for them.
47. Progressive Insurance
Business of Esports reported in January 2022 that Progressive Insurance partnered with Immortals Esports Team in a deal which saw the auto insurer host Twitch streams on the channels of Immortals talent creators.
The shared Minecraft venue is also a suggestion that Progressive Insurance is testing out strategies related to the Metaverse.
48. Prudential Financial
In June 2022, it was reported Prudential Financial was entering the Metaverse with virtual insurance, financial services and NFTs. The news of its trademark application was shared on Twitter by trademark attorney Michael Kondoudis.
49. Publix
In August 2022, supermarket chain Publix filed trademark applications for its name, logo and tagline “where shopping is a pleasure” to enter the metaverse and adopt non-fungible tokens (NFTs), according to trademark attorney Michael Kondoudis, who shared the news on Twitter.
50. Raytheon Technologies
Raytheon Technologies is a multinational aerospace and defence conglomerate and one of the largest in the world by revenue and market capitalization.
As far as its involvement with the Metaverse goes, an article from August of this year claims Raytheon has tested a hypersonic cruise missile in the Metaverse.
“Advancing our nation’s hypersonic capabilities is a critical national imperative, and this was an important step forward,” said Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon’s Missiles & Defense business. “Having back-to-back successful flight tests gives us even greater confidence in the technical maturity of our HAWC operational prototype.”
51. State Farm Insurance
A large group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois, State Farm wrote a blog post, State Farm and the metaverse, in February 2022:
“At 100 years young, State Farm is harnessing the power of groundbreaking tech — called the metaverse,” said State Farm® Technology Manager Matt Burns. “We’re reimagining how to connect with people using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to create an immersive environment where people can work and play.”
Burns leads a team of software engineers who specialize in a suite of technologies like VR and AR.
While Lead Software Engineer Jacob Parra, said: “State Farm is an early adopter, making big strides in virtual and immersive experiences.”
52. Tesla
Elon Musk isn’t impressed by the Metaverse by all accounts, or at least that’s the consensus across the board with countless articles published on the Internet describing his loathing for it. Musk himself even admitted he may be “too old” to understand the technology.
However, you can be assured that if the Metaverse does become the next technological paradigm, Tesla will be at the forefront of it, even if that means coming into it from a disadvantageous position.
53. Boeing
The Boeing Company is a multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide.
Regarding its Metaverse strategy, Boeing announced in December 2021 that it intends to design planes in the Metaverse, placing veteran engineer Linda Hapgood in charge of its “digital transformation.”
54. Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific, a supplier of scientific instrumentation, reagents and consumables, and software services, teamed up with Accenture team on their XR journey and delivering 3D content at scale.
The announcement, made in a podcast in February 2022, saw Jakrey Myers, an Associate Director of Product Engineering and Management at the company, talked with Accenture’s Nathan King, technologist, strategist and architect, and Luciana Jaalouk, program lead for complex and creative delivery, about a recent 3D management system proof of concept. Accenture, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Amazon Web Services (AWS) co-created it to develop a system model that houses, organizes and delivers 3D content at scale.
55. Tyson Foods
In March 2022, Tyson Foods — the world’s second-largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork — announced filing a trademark application to begin its journey in the Metaverse with virtual food and provide NFTs.
56. UnitedHealth Group
Although not explicitly a declaration of its sojourn into the Metaverse, UnitedHealthcare 2021 launched its virtual-first health plan to assist customers to access a dedicated care team at any time of the day at a low cost.
57. UPS
UPS, one of the world’s biggest shipping and parcel supply services, is joining the Metaverse. The multinational company has launched a venue in Decentraland and aims to target small businesses in the virtual world. Significantly, they will use this space for events and educational purposes. The Helping You Be Unstoppable Store was built in partnership with companies Inc. and Fast Company.
UPS also became in May 2022 the official shipping partner of ComplexLand, a virtual culture event taking place in the metaverse, spotlighting four small but very different businesses at ComplexLand’s UPS Village, an immersive virtual shopping experience.
58. Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications Inc., a multinational telecommunications conglomerate, struck a deal with Meta to explore avenues in the 5G metaverse in March of this year.
In the deal, which Verizon has described as a “first-of-its-kind” strategic partnership, Rima Qureshi, Chief Strategy Officer at Verizon, believes the metaverse will create virtual spaces that are more immersive and realistic than ever before, providing new ways for people to connect across work, home and play over the next decade.
“This [partnership] is to understand the foundational requirements for the metaverse and its applications. Our collaboration with Meta will explore how Verizon’s MEC infrastructure can deliver intensive XR cloud rendering and low latency streaming,” said Qureshi.
59. Walmart
Walmart, the American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States, is actively participating in the Metaverse. Its strategy includes Walmart Land and Walmart Universe of Play, two different experiences for shoppers that leverage the Roblox virtual gaming platform, unveiled in September 2022.
Walmart’s Universe of Play allows users to play games inspired by top-selling toys such as Jurassic World and Paw Patrol characters during the holiday season. In contrast, Walmart Land features an obstacle course made up of oversized products from makeup and skincare brands, focused on Walmart’s female demographic.
60. Wells Fargo
Although no clear actions have been taken to enter the Metaverse, Wells Fargo — a multinational financial services company — issued the Innovation Challenge, seeking to work with creators to solve problems via advancing technologies.
In an October 2022 article published in VentureBeat, Wells Fargo claimed that while “crypto’s role in the financial ecosystem is still up for debate, wide-scale adoption of crypto and blockchain products is underway at some of the largest global institutions.”
Here are the rest of the companies on the Fortune 100 list with no evident presence in the metaverse:
McKesson, Costco Wholesale, Cardinal Health, Marathon Petroleum, Elevance Health, Centene, Phillips 66, Valero Energy, Target, Fannie Mae, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), FedEx, Humana, Energy Transfer, Freddie Mac, HCA Healthcare, AbbVie, Dow, Charter Communications, Sysco, New York Life Insurance, Caterpillar, TJX, Nationwide, StoneX Group, Plains GP Holdings, Enterprise Products Partners, TIAA, Oracle, General Dynamics, CHS, USAA, Northwestern Mutual, Nucor, Exelon, Exelon, Walgreens Boots, Liberty Mutual, Bristol Myers Squibb, Deere & Company
