Heavy investment in crypto investment institution a16z, how does Blue Cursor play in the Metavere?

On March 4th, BlueFocus announced to the public that BCGOAINVESTMENT LLC (hereinafter referred to as "American Blue Label Investment"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, plans to use its own funds to invest no more than 35 million US dollars to subscribe for the blockchain seed fund being raised by a16z The shares of the first phase (CNK Seed Fund I) and the fourth phase of the blockchain fund (CNKIV) have become its limited partners.

According to the announcement, this investment by "American Blue Label Investment" will help enhance the company's understanding of the development of global blockchain technology and the possibility of coordinated development of its own Metaverse business.

It is worth noting that the development of Metaverse relies on the support of underlying technologies such as blockchain and 5G, and the application scenarios include social, games, advertising and marketing, which are the main business of Blue Cursor. However, Blue Cursor previously stated on the interactive platform that the company's advantage lies in the integration of "technology + creativity", and the company does not currently have blockchain technology.

A reporter from "Blockchain Daily" contacted Blue Cursor, trying to interview how to balance the relationship between blockchain technology and Metaverse business, and how many core hardware and software technologies the company has in the Metaverse field. During the sensitive period of performance, it was inconvenient to reply and declined the reporter's interview.

Deployed blockchain very early, but there has been no blockchain technology

As early as March 28, 2018, BlueFocus and Lakala announced the establishment of a joint big data research institute "Kunlun Hall". Based on multi-source data, through cloud computing, artificial intelligence algorithms, service robots, blockchain applications and other technologies, we strive to build a smart business platform.

Regarding the application of blockchain technology, Zhao Wenquan, chairman of BlueFocus, said in an interview at the time that from traditional advertising to digital advertising, the situation of cheating and fraud is very serious, which is also a somewhat unhealthy part of this industry. The development of blockchain technology can help anti-cheating and anti-fraud to a certain extent, so this is still valuable in the landing of the marketing industry.

In the same year, Blockchain DATA Foundation and BlueFocus reached a strategic cooperation, and the two parties will join hands to build the marketing blockchain laboratory of BlueFocus Kunluntang Research Institute. The two parties will carry out technical implementation cooperation for the DATA project in the field of data anti-fraud in the field of digital marketing, and will also jointly explore the broad application prospects of blockchain technology in the field of advertising and marketing.

It is worth noting that on March 29, 2018, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a blue cursor letter of concern, which explained the company's current business operations in big data, intelligent algorithms, cloud computing, service robots, blockchain and other businesses. operating and profit model, related operating income, gross profit margin and R&D investment in the last three years, as well as business personnel, technology and patent reserves.

However, on April 2, 2018, Blue Cursor said that after receiving the letter of concern, it immediately organized relevant personnel and intermediaries to actively prepare for the reply to the letter of concern. In view of the fact that some matters and data in the letter of concern need to be further supplemented and improved, and the workload is relatively large, the company does not expect to be able to complete all the reply work as required before April 2, 2018.

"Blockchain Daily" reporters did not see the company's blockchain-related content in the blue cursor's financial report.

Heavy investment in Silicon Valley encryption venture capital institutions

Since 2021, established PR firm BlueFocus has shown a keen interest in the "metaverse" and "blockchain".

Blue Cursor once said that the related business direction of Metaverse is the track that the company will focus on and fully invest in in the future. The company has no upper limit on the investment amount in this field. The company's management and the investment department are currently conducting a comprehensive review of the relevant targets. Through research and negotiation, the company can support more than 1 billion capital investment in the layout of Metaverse-related tracks, and comprehensively build the company's own IP, technology and content core capabilities.

On November 5, 2021, Blue Cursor, which had a net loss of 30.228 million yuan in the third quarter, stated on the investor interaction platform that the virtual live broadcast room project jointly developed by Shenzhen Blue Label and Alibaba Dharma Academy has entered the implementation stage.

On November 16, Blue Cursor answered the "Metaverse" three times in the plate: it said that it has cooperation and communication with meta (formerly facebok), Tencent, Amazon, etc., and also released the "Metaverse Strategy".

At 0:00 on January 1, 2022, Blue Cursor released the first digital virtual human "Su Xiaomei". It is said that this is the landmark landing of the blue cursor metaverse strategy, "will open a new layout of the blue cursor virtual IP business."

Since November 5 last year, along with the outlet of the Metaverse, the stock price of Blue Cursor has soared. On January 4, 2022, it once rose to 12.88 yuan, becoming a historical high in the past 6 years, and the range increase was as high as 144.40%.

On March 4, 2022, BlueFocus invested no more than US$35 million to subscribe for the shares of the first phase of the blockchain seed fund (CNK Seed Fund I) and the fourth phase of the blockchain fund (CNKIV) that a16z is raising, becoming its limited partner.

This time, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), which participated in Blue Cursor’s investment, is one of the most active crypto investors on the market.

"Blockchain Daily" previously reported that in 2021, a16z has invested in a total of 43 projects in 9 countries in the blockchain field. In recent years, a16z has invested more than 50 times in the field of encryption.

In 2022, a16z continues to double down on the blockchain space. The firm is seeking $4.5 billion for its fourth cryptocurrency fund, which it plans to finalize by March 2022. If the fundraising is successful, the total fundraising amount of the four cryptocurrency funds issued by a16z will reach as high as 7.515 billion US dollars.

The reporter of "Blockchain Daily" contacted Blue Cursor and asked whether the move was based on the consideration of the company's financial growth or the consideration of business synergy. The relevant personnel of Blue Cursor declined the interview of the reporter because it was currently in a sensitive period for performance.

It is worth noting that on December 7, 2021, Blue Cursor once stated on the interactive platform that the company's advantage lies in the integration of "technology + creativity", and the company does not currently have blockchain technology.

Blockchain technology is one of the underlying technologies of the Metaverse, and Blue Cursor is a marketing technology company. Whether the blessing of the Metaverse can bring about a qualitative change to its main business, it seems difficult to determine. Metaverse-related technologies and concepts are still in the early stages of development. Transplanting marketing activities into the Metaverse may face many problems in terms of technology, consumer habits, and revenue.

At the same time, as the wind gradually died down, the stock price of Blue Cursor also began to fall and pull back. The closing price on March 7 was 7.63 yuan, down 40.76% from the highest point of 12.88 yuan on January 4.