Metaverse Ecosystem Platform Oasis Raises Tens of Millions of Dollars in Series B Funding | Led by Oasis Capital

Recently, metaverse social platform Oasis closed a Series B round of tens of millions of dollars, led by 5Y Capital, Oasis Capital, and BAI Capital.

Oasis founder and CEO Jeff Yin said: "Oasis Capital has always supported founders — both through investment and post-investment support — and lit a lamp for Oasis on our uncertain entrepreneurial journey."

Founded in 2018, Oasis previously raised funding from 5Y Capital, BAI Capital, Atlas Capital, K2VC, and Qinghan Fund. According to SensorTower data, Oasis added over 6 million registered users in Q4 2021, making it one of the fastest-growing metaverse social products globally.

Oasis's metaverse social experience consists of three core elements: "virtual activities," "virtual identity-based connections with acquaintances," and "diverse organizational forms." The team is building an entirely new virtual economy around these pillars. On the Oasis platform, users can recreate much of real life in the virtual world — watching movies together, streaming live content, singing, playing cards, chess, and tabletop games, even working or attending classes.

Yin noted that user activity on Oasis is highly frequent, and people naturally meet like-minded friends and build relationships. For example, users watching a ball game can find fellow fans who share their passion; playing tabletop games together can lead to long-term friendships.

In terms of gameplay and user demographics, Oasis differs from other ecosystems that rely on mini-games to attract users. Its virtual activities, mapped from real life, generate stronger user stickiness. Many Oasis users, after completing social activities with friends, continue logging in to explore more features.

Official statistics show that Oasis users spend over 110 minutes daily on the platform, with retained active users averaging nearly 200 minutes per day — meaning a significant portion of users have effectively moved their "real-world activities" into the virtual space.

Through these high-frequency, stable virtual activities, users quickly establish their own social networks and communicate with these friends daily. "57% of Oasis user sessions are friend-related, such as joining friends' activities or chatting and sharing with them. In the first five days, an average user establishes 19 new connections; in the first 30 days, 51 new connections," Yin said.

Once certain relationships are established, friends can create new Clubs to enrich their social circles — for instance, a group of anime enthusiasts might start a film-and-merchandise club, or poker players might open a card room — thereby building native, close-knit social networks.

Yin believes that the metaverse Oasis is building will develop divisions of labor and organizational forms much like the real world: some people are organizers who build scenes, some are creatives who plan activities, and others are active participants. These small groups are thriving in the virtual world.

"When new users enter Oasis, 93% of their time is spent in the open world interacting with others. After 14 days, less than 30% of their time is in the open world — over 70% is spent in various small groups. When users log on, they find different groups engaged in interesting activities. They can choose based on their mood or schedule, participating in different activities or moving between them."

While continuously refining its core feature modules, Oasis is experiencing global growth. To date, the platform has been live for eight months and covers multiple countries worldwide. Within two months of launch, Oasis topped Brazil's social app charts, and subsequently ranked among the leading social apps in the United States, the Philippines, and other countries. Currently, Oasis adds over 2 million new users monthly, with daily active users exceeding 1 million; by end of 2022, DAUs are projected to surpass 5 million. Notably, a VR version of Oasis is being updated with select features concurrently.

According to sources, once virtual activities, acquaintance networks, and organizations emerge at scale on Oasis, the development team will begin building a platform-specific economic system. Unlike traditional internet products where "creators sell content," Oasis will decentralize the formulation of economic protocols, distribution of virtual property rights, and governance of social rules — empowering users in the process.

"We believe the model where 'creators, as one part of the ecosystem, distribute and sell content to other users' is too singular and outdated. The metaverse itself isn't a 'content platform' — it's a self-governing, healthy, long-term ecosystem. Users shouldn't be simply divided into creators and consumers; every user should be both producer and consumer, while also playing the role of governor," Yin said. This, he added, is what differentiates Oasis from overseas competitors like Rec Room.

Jinjian Zhang, founding partner of Oasis Capital, said: "Back in his youth, Jeff Yin spent 18 months deeply studying WWII history to complete the Chinese localization of the video game Hearts of Iron — all for a game he loved. At age 20, he dropped out of school to start a company. Through steel and setbacks, his ambition remains. That vitality is what we value most."

Yu Cheng, partner at 5Y Capital: "People's need to record and share their states, perspectives, and experiences is enduring. Past and present social products have typically done this through synchronous, abstract slices of time — 140 characters, a photo, or a short video. Oasis is experimenting with new creative production tools that let users create and share unique experiences, shifting the smallest unit from time slices to individual experiences. And 3D, avatars, VR, scenes, AI — these are all technological means to enable the creation and sharing of experiences. Going forward, we look forward to users being able to create and experience millions of different experiences in Oasis, to better understand and feel others and the world."

Wang Tianfan, partner at BAI Capital: "The trend of the past few decades that hasn't changed is this: the digital world (programs and protocols) and the physical world (humans and machines) continuously intertwine and form new networks. This isn't a fad — it's a long-term trajectory. So whether you call it 'virtual worlds,' 'metaverse,' or 'immersive internet,' these are just different facets of annotation on this same trend. Whether through AI or communications, expanding the boundaries of randomness and openness — Oasis has focused its product innovation on these two points, and that is deeply meaningful."

Following this funding round, Oasis will continue iterating on its product, expand its international talent pool globally, and enhance product operations and user service capabilities across different markets. The virtual economic system being built for creators may launch within the year.

Source: 36Kr Pro, author Liu Shiwu

Vitality

What do you think vitality is?

I understand vitality as both change and constancy. Maintaining curiosity, continuously iterating one's understanding, embracing the changes of the era, and enjoying an adventurous life — this kind of vitality is deeply inspiring, preventing one from "dying" young and living the rest of one's days as a shadow. At the same time, having unwavering beliefs in one's heart, holding faith in a certain state or future, and being willing to devote a lifetime of energy to pursuing it — this conviction makes vitality more complete, more composed.

— Jeff Yin, founder and CEO of Oasis

Oasis Capital is a new-generation venture capital firm in China, dedicated to discovering the most vital entrepreneurs of the next decade and growing alongside them to create long-term value. "Vitality" is Oasis's vision and mission. This vitality is both the direction of structural transformation in the era and the resilience and evolutionary force of entrepreneurs. Oasis Capital focuses on early and growth-stage investments, with individual checks ranging from $3 million to $30 million, concentrating on technology-enabled services including healthcare and enterprise services, supporting China's technology-driven new service upgrade.