St. Pete metaverse startup enters new partnership

St. Petersburg-based Metasport Arena, which is creating an ecosystem for sports enthusiasts and athletes, has entered a new strategic partnership with Chicago-based web3 company Burrst.

“At Burrst, we believe in the future of the metaverse, specifically what Metasport Arena (MSA) is creating and how it will benefit young athletes on a global scale. The creative approach athletes will have in this digital world allows fans to engage like never before. Thrilled for this partnership to come to fruition,” Grant Sapkin, CEO and founder of Burrst, said in a statement. 

Burrst has a niche on serving young athletes who can monetize their NIL (name, image and likeness) by providing them with global exposure and fan engagement through the web3 environment. 

St. Petersburg resident Piotr Smeder, the co-founder and head of partnerships at Metasport Arena, said he was introduced to Sapkin through a mutual business partner. 

“When we connected, we saw how aligned our visions are in terms of tech. We essentially want to build avatars for athletes. Imagine avatars copying the best moves of college athletes. Burrst has relationships with many schools, and we hope to add value with different opportunities,” Smeder said.  

Founded in October 2021 by Julien Sevat, Metasport Arena has roughly 15-20 remote employees who are from or based in Poland (where Smeder is from), Spain, France, India, Singapore and the U.S. 

Currently, Metasport Arena is in the testing phase to explore and find any initial bugs on its platform. 

The group is also behind the Sam Arena, the first sports and entertainment binance smart chain (BSC)-based metaverse allowing users to share and earn native SAM tokens and real estate.

Last year, the company entered a partnership with ESTV, which claims to have established the world’s first 24/7 live linear esports channel.

The agreement with California-based ESTV will allow ESTV to bring its digital assets onto MSA’s marketplace. 

“There will be a slew of new partnerships. We aren’t focused on marketing yet; we are spending time building the product,” Smeder said. 

Metasport Arena is completely bootstrapped and is seeking funding and partnerships from venture capitalists, angel investors and smaller firms interested in web3. 

The company will be attending several networking events in South Florida, including the Miami Web3 Week event that kicks off in February. 

Metasport Arena states it has multiple potential revenue streams, including converting each sitting space in stadiums into NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and creating new engagement and revenue streams for clubs. The company can benefit from a profit-sharing model, digital marketing and sponsorships, land development and a full digital marketplace that would allow the company to receive a profit from any NFT sales.