FOV Ventures has launched a new €25m (£21m) fund to invest in early-stage metaverse start-ups across Europe, raising €16.5m (£13.9m) in its first funding round.

The Finnish-based VC firm will make initial investments of up to €500,000 (£419,600) in up to 25 pre-seed and seed-stage companies – hoping to create the next generation of billion-dollar companies in the metaverse, which Bloomberg estimates will be a market worth $800bn by 2025.

Areas FOV Ventures is interested in include identity, avatars, commerce, entertainment and social, future of work, creator tools and infrastructure.

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FOV Ventures, co-founded by UK-based Dave Haynes and Finnish-based Petri Rajahalme, will be leveraging what it calls the fund’s active “edge network” – including individuals from Meta and Google – which will support the fund and help scout new investments in the area.

“We believe the metaverse represents a trillion-dollar opportunity over the next decade, fundamentally changing the way we play, socialise and shop, but also the way we work and collaborate,” Haynes said.

“As with previous evolutions on the internet, we believe the metaverse will unleash a new generation of billion-dollar companies. Our mission is to identify, fund and support those companies.”

Petri Rajahalme added: “Given the recent excitement and huge potential of the metaverse, we’ve seen an influx of talent and interest. For the past five years, Dave and I have had front-row seats and have built a strong network by being very active in the ecosystem.

“We believe we add a lot of value to the start-ups we invest in through our combined expertise as well as our ‘edge network’, which gives founders added support, as well as introducing us to new start-ups.”

More on early-stage funding:

Sure Valley closing £95m software fund to invest in 25 early-stage start-ups