Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney sees himself in a race with companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Roblox. The goal: 1 billion metaverse users.

“Whoever brings on a billion users first would be the presumed leader in setting the standards,” Sweeney said.

The CEO sees the metaverse as a potential “multi-trillion-dollar part of the world economy,” which, like the internet, would not be owned by any one company.

Epic is one of several companies actively building virtual environments.

• “Fortnite,” in addition to being a hit game, has become a virtual social and event space that hosts concerts.
• Nike is partnering with Roblox to create a virtual playspace called Nikeland. The online area is filled with courts, arenas, and product showrooms. Nike previously filed a trademark application for digital shoes and apparel bearing its logo and slogan. 
• Microsoft is initially focusing on workplace environments for its metaverse and has said it plans to move into games.
• Disney CEO Bob Chapek said he envisions building a metaverse using streaming service Disney+ as a platform.

Sweeney also called out Apple and Google for forcing users and developers into siloed software environments. He is working to develop a “single store that works with all platforms.”

Just one month after becoming the first state to reach $1 billion sports wagers handled in a single month, New Jersey has beaten its own record, hitting $1.3 billion sports bets handled in October — a 30% monthly increase.

Since January, the state has recorded nearly $8.5 billion worth of sports bets.

One of the 18 states that allow mobile betting, about 90% of New Jersey’s October bets were placed online, totaling $1.18 billion of the $1.3 billion. The rest were placed at physical sports books.

Sports betting revenue rose 44% year-over-year to $84.1 million.

• More than half of the revenue made in the state was from bets placed at the Meadowlands Racetrack, winning over $44 million in October.
• In September, the Associated Press mentioned the NFL season as a reason for the rise in sports wagers. 
• The American Gaming Association expects 45.2 million Americans to bet on the NFL season — a record for the sport and 36% more  than last season.

New Jersey brought in $45.8 million in gaming taxes in October, just under the $46 million in rake-in the month before. Year-to-date, the state has brought in $396.8 million in gambling-related tax revenue.

Sports trading card platform Alt scored some high-profile investors in its $75 million Series B funding round.

The round, announced last week, was led by Spearhead with participation from Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six fund and numerous others including Apollo Group, Vibe Capital, and Breyer Capital.

The round also lured athletes Tom Brady, Candace Parker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Alex Morgan, and Marlon Humphrey. 

• Alt raised $31 million in March led by First Round, which included Kevin Durant, Larry Fitzgerald, and Kelvin Beachum. The company launched its trading card platform that same month.
• Since launching, Alt says that customers have listed $200 million worth of asset value on its platform, with $70 million of that held in the company’s physical vault.

The company is looking to expand beyond trading cards, which it is using as “a proof of concept to create financial products that traditional financial institutions don’t support or recognize as collateral,” the company wrote. 

“Over the next few years, we plan to roll out to other asset classes to support everything from trading cards, watches, NFTs, and even LP interests.”

The company plans to launch its mobile app later this month.

AllTrails, a fitness and travel app used for hiking and outdoor recreational activities, has raised $150 million in fresh capital from the growth fund of Permira, a London-based investment firm. 

“As the world opens back up, we’re seeing the staying power of this connection to the outdoors,” CEO Ron Schneidermann told TechCrunch. 

AllTrails will use the fresh capital to expand its business across international markets and grow its workforce. Spectrum Equity will retain its majority stake in AllTrails following the investment, which it bought in 2018 for $75 million. 

Launched in 2010, AllTrails has more than 30 million global users and experienced triple-digit growth in 2020 due to the pandemic. 

• Last year, the app was installed by 8.7 million users worldwide, an 89% increase year-over-year.
• It saw monthly active users jump 36% in Q3 2021 compared to the same period last year.
• The app has reached 1 million users who pay $29.99 per year for the pro version of the app. 

AllTrails marks the second fitness-related investment by Permira in the last year. In September 2020, the investment firm took part in a $450 million Series C funding round for Zwift, an online fitness platform for cyclists and runners.