Now, in a spot of perfect timing, a startup out of Talinn, Estonia, called Ready Player Me — which has built a popular platform for creating dynamic, animated avatars to use across virtual worlds built and operated by others — is announcing $56 million in funding to grow its business. The company today handles about 5 million avatars from across some 3,000 partners, and the funding will be used in three basic areas: to continue hiring (the company has offices in NYC); to expand the platform with more developer tools, including those for monetization, and to build more services for creators using Ready Player Me (it offers both an SDK and API); and to double down on the idea that creating single avatars, and identities, that are interoperable and can be used across multiple virtual environments will improve overall user experience, and thus help grow user numbers. That work led to the company aggregating a proprietary database of more than 20,000 face scans, created using the company’s own 3D scanners. These days, Ready Player Me’s partners span both web3 and web2 environments, and they include VRChat, Spatial, Somnium Space, RTFKT, said the company. The startup said it works with creators and fashion brands — customers include Adidas, New Balance, Dior, Pull&Bear, and Warner Brothers — to help them build cross-game avatar “assets” across the metaverse.