On December 16, 2021 AMPD Ventures (AMPD.C) announced that it has completed a deal to acquire Departure Lounge – a Vancouver, BC-based company pursuing technology and content initiatives related to the development of the Metaverse.
AMPD specializes in providing high-performance and computing solutions for low-latency applications, including video games and eSports, digital animation and visual effects, and big data collection, analysis and visualization.
The company began trading in November, 2010 – spiked briefly to .69, then fell to .07 in September, 2020.
Since then it’s been on a steady upward trend to .45, while Equity Guru has covered the AMPD news, providing macro context for a story that’s on the geeky end of the spectrum for many retail investors.
“The metaverse has recently begun gaining traction as a hypothesized iteration of the Internet, supporting persistent online 3D virtual environments through conventional personal computing, as well as virtual and augmented reality,” explained Equity Guru’s Kieran Robertson on December 2, 2021.
“Access points for the metaverse include general-purpose computers and smartphones, in addition to augmented reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR),” added Robertson, “Put simply, the metaverse combines multiple elements of technology, including AR and VR, to create a digital space where users can essentially live.”
“Metaverse is a step towards the digitalisation of the real world through a combination of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and video,” confirmed CNBC on December 18, 2021.
“What seems to be catching investors’ fancy is real estate,” added CNBC, “The number of property deals in the metaverse has been making headlines with record million-dollar transactions reported every other week.”
The December 16, 2021 acquisition will allow AMPD to build upon its robust high-performance cloud and compute platform to expand its business across a range of Metaverse focused initiatives.
Departure Lounge recently signed a deal with 4D holographic capture provider, Metastage, to build a Metastage holographic capture facility in Vancouver.
AMPD will use $2.5 million of the proceeds from its recently closed oversubscribed Private Placement to accelerate the operations of Departure Lounge.
“Part of AMPD’s mission with the development of our High-Performance Edge platform has always been to become the hosting company for the Metaverse,” stated Anthony Brown, CEO at AMPD.
“By joining the AMPD family, we have an exceptionally firm technology and infrastructure foundation on which to build our business,” said Charles Creighton, President of the Departure Lounge. “AMPD’s prowess in providing the type of infrastructure that we need is second to none and we’re exceptionally excited about growing the business together.”
As part of the Acquisition, AMPD and Departure Lounge established a performance-based profit-sharing plan.
In this December 10, 2021 Equity Guru’s Jody Vance interviews AMPD Ventures CEO, Anthony Brown about AMPD’s transition into a new technological era with Metaverse and blockchain technology.
“The acquisition of Departure Lounge is an extension of the tools and technologies required to create the metaverse,” explained Brown, “Volumetric Capture being one of them.”
“That’s what we’re doing with Departure Lounge”, added Brown, “We’re going to have something called Meta Stage Canada up here in Vancouver, where we can do full 4D volumetric capture, using 106 cameras of live action.”
“Volumetric video refers to a technique that captures a 3D space in real-time. In doing so, the volumetrically captured object, environment, or person can be transferred to various mediums including the web, mobile, or even virtual worlds to be viewed in 3D,” wrote Robertson.
“For example, if we were to use volumetric video to record and upload a soccer match to VR, I could then use a VR headset to enter this scene and run around on the pitch myself,” added Robertson.
“Compared to 360-degree video, volumetric video actually enables the user to control how far in or out they want to explore a scene.”
“According to Fortune Business Insights, the global cloud computing market is expected to reach USD$791.48 billion by 2028, expanding at a CAGR of 17.9%,” reported Equity Guru’s Kieran Robertson.
“That is pretty damn impressive considering this market was valued at USD$219 billion in 2020,” added Robertson, “However, current cloud infrastructure is unable to support the intense requirements of the latest multiplayer video games, cutting-edge digital media production, or next-generation enterprises, which continue to push the boundaries of big data analysis and visualization.”
“With this in mind, AMPD is a next-generation infrastructure company focused on ‘reinventing the Internet’ using the latest servers, switches, firewalls, and storage arrays to overcome the limitations of commodity cloud architecture.”
“By adding Departure Lounge to AMPD’s growing roster of subsidiaries and having AMPD’s CSO, James Hursthouse, transition to running Departure Lounge as a wholly owned subsidiary of AMPD,” stated Brown, “We add significantly to the value of what we are creating through technology and content initiatives that require exactly the type of compute that AMPD specializes in providing.”
“The result is a full 360-degree Metaverse focused organization.”
Full Disclosure: Equity Guru owns a sizable position in AMPD Ventures.
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