The Cubiverse is a Web3 platform that offers users an intuitive cubic interface to store and display files, videos, music, 3D models, etc. It was built for content creators who want to access a user-friendly platform where they would not be intimidated by the complexity and cost associated with migrating their works into the metaverse. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Cubiverse co-founder Mike Rosen to learn more.
Mike Rosen’s Background
Rosen completed his architectural thesis on Solar Energy at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1982, founded Mike Rosen Architects in 1988, The Philadelphia Virtual Reality Center in 1998, and 2Ce Inc. (the creator of the CubicEye 3D Web Browser) in 2000. And Rosen said:
“With the internet bubble, our second round of funding evaporated, and the company went into hibernation, and I returned to being a full time Architect (and serial entrepreneur).”
Formation Of Cubiverse
How did the idea for Cubiverse come together? Rosen shared:
“COVID-19 necessitated the implementation of the old CubicEye IP to interact remotely. We developed a Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) for the purpose of publicly entitling architectural projects and collaborating with clients and team members during the Pandemic’s lock-downs. It became obvious that with the advent of the cloud, the metaverse and AI, our platform could finally be commercialized. My role as the Founder, CEO, inventor, visionary, and the ‘gray hair of experience guy,’ is to guide our 25 year old start-up to full commercialization of the platform.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Rosen reflected:
“The very first time I has a meeting with a client in a cube with both our video cameras, texting, editing tools, and audio functions worked perfectly. There was another incident where during a public meeting for one of our projects, a young couple decided that having sex on their dining room table in front of the township commissioners and the public would be fun.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges has Rosen faced in building the company and has the current macroeconomic climate affected the company? Rosen acknowledged:
“This time around I decided to attempt getting to significant revenue generation prior to seeking outside venture capital. This has led to creative personal financing and scaling the company in two phases. The first focused on thousands and driving revenue, and the second focused on millions and focused on scaling and expansion of the platform.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Rosen explained:
“Our flagship product is the Cubiverse platform. It will have several feature upgrades over the next three quarters to include: The Presenter Upgrade, The Producer platform, and the Communicator App for video conferencing.”
“We will also create customized intranet Cubic Environments for business collaboration and data management, as well as scientific research platform to test out what-if scenarios and heavy computing experiments.”
Evolution Of The Cubiverse’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Rosen pointed out:
“Since we did our soft launch in June to test out the back-end infrastructure and our security, we have discovered many cloud related issues I was not familiar with, as well as legal, and technical limitations that we needed to resolve prior to launch date.”
“We have developed many new features, upgrades, and functionality to the platform that will yield great capabilities in the future.”
Artist Involvement
How did you get artists and personalities such as Cage The Elephant and Yakov Smirnoff to become involved in the launch of The Cubiverse? Rosen replied:
“These were all relationships through friends and family and only appear in my personal private cube collection. So far only Yakov Smirnoff, a personal friend, has signed agreements to sell and promote his products in the Cubiverse.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Rosen cited:
“Our soft launch in June certainly was a long time coming. Next, I would say signing real customers to real agreements to sell products in the Cubiverse is right up there as well.”
“The real milestone will be our public launch of the first two HUBS in The Cubiverse on November 1st.”
Customer Success Stories
Upon asking Rosen about customer success stories, he pointed out:
“As of today we have three official customers and several dozen artists and musicians that have committed to The Cubiverse launch effort. Between now and November we hope to get many more.”
Funding
After asking Rosen about funding, he revealed:
“I am funding our efforts to date personally and intend to get to significant revenue through in-Cube sales and licensing agreements prior to soliciting outside investment.”
“Having said that, an angel investor at this time would sure expedite, and take a lot of the pressure off me, so it is a consideration.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Rosen answered:
“We aim to be the platform everyone uses to, organize, store, access, and share their data in the next generation of the internet.”
“As a metaverse gateway platform, if successful, our market cap is limitless.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Rosen affirmed:
“We are more accessible in that we do not need head mounted display or expensive glasses or equipment to interact with.”
“It is very simple to implement and migrate into the cube not requiring experts.”
“The time to implement a 3D internet strategy in The Cubiverse is very short. A company could launch a CubeStore in days.”
“The platform is also very affordable in that it is very inexpensive to create, load, and share content without the need for specialized programmers.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Rosen pointed out:
“In November we will be launching two of our anticipated HUBS, in the future we will be creating many more HUBS and our hope is that new creators will build and link their cubes to these HUBS creating communities of like-minded interests.”
“These communities will give folks the ability to store all their personal, and professional data in a vault that they can capture, organize, access, and share securely their content in a game changing paradigm.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics to discuss? Rosen concluded:
“The only other point I would like to stress is the presence of the Cube in all three realms that our contents exist in. The real world, its digital twin, and the Web 3 digital world that we are struggling to call the Metaverse.”
“Using QBCodes we can link all three and act truly as the Gateway to them all.”
