Marcus Richards
Horse racing is a lucrative industry around the world, with millions of pounds in prize money up for grabs. Some of the best thoroughbreds across the globe are also valued at eight figures. A new start-up is hoping to use the interest in horse racing to have success with digital racehorses. Just like in the real world, these horses are bred to produce faster thoroughbreds, they are trained before they enter their digital race and sold for big fees.
A $20 million Series A round has been raised by Virtually Human Studio (VHS). Their gaming platform, ZEN RUN, has been developed for this metaverse, and they are confident they can match some of the success of the sport.
The challenge for VHS is to try to replicate the atmosphere of traditional meetings in the early stages of their business. The Cheltenham Festival, for example, is one of the biggest weeks of the year in horse racing. This meeting attracts a huge audience, particularly the Cheltenham Gold Cup where A Plus Tard is one of the leading Cheltenham 2022 tips to prevail this year. The reason this event is so popular is because of the tradition and history it has, which is where this new type of horseracing could fall flat.
But let’s take a closer look at the model of this start-up before we make our judgement. Owners of these digital horses have to pay an entry fee to take part in a race. A prize pool is then up for grabs in that contest. They also are able to sell their digital horses at any time on platforms such as OpenSea. VHS have reported that over $30 million of digital racehorses have already been sold, which is a good start for them. They will be hoping to build upon that once awareness around their business picks up pace.
The one big advantage of VHS is that they are not held back by the horse racing calendar. They are able to stage meetings 24/7 and they can attract owners/horses from around the world, without the worry about travel.
Virtual Racing Suggest Business Could Be a Success
Although this start-up is the first of its kind, digital horse racing has been around for a couple of decades now. Virtual horse racing was introduced in the 00s by bookmakers as a product for their customers to bet on. Virtual racing was first set up as a replacement for horse racing when meetings were abandoned due to the weather. This meant they had a product to offer, particularly in their betting shops.
One of the most popular virtual races today is the Virtual Grand National. In 2020 when the world’s most famous steeplechase at Aintree was cancelled, there was a lot of interest in the virtual version. It may take VHS a while to appeal to traditional horse racing fans and owners to their metaverse. However, in a world where digital transformation is increasingly important, there may be room for both.
