The additional $7 million allows Upland to accelerate its mission to build the world’s largest digital open economy, while strengthening the company’s position in the blockchain gaming industry and solidifying its reputation as one of the leading platforms for the web3 metaverse. It will also support the company’s initiative to enable its utility token “Spark” to be tradable, for the first time, outside the Upland platform on Ethereum via a Token Tradability Event. Upland continues to see increased virtual property owners and rising community engagement as it has launched and released new and exciting features in the past year. These include, but are not limited to, a new car racing app and in-game racing features, a 3rd party developer platform, new NFLPA bundles for the 3rd consecutive season, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, FIFA World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™, Stock Car Pro Series partnerships, and others among the opening of international cities which included London, Tokyo and Berlin. With the new funds, Upland will advance its roadmap and continue its path of innovation including the introduction of new features and platform components that will use artificial intelligence. Upland has raised $18 million in 2021 to expand to new global regions and develop new features while initiating brand partnerships and accelerating user acquisition. "Upland’s ability to offer a captivating web2 experience that seamlessly abstracts away the intricacies of blockchain technology while delivering the advantages of true asset ownership perfectly aligns with our vision for the future of the gaming industry," explained Yves La Rose, Director of EOS Network Ventures. "We are thrilled to announce Upland as the inaugural investment for the ENV’s GameFi fund." “We welcome EOS Network Ventures as a new investor for Upland. Yves and his team have been very supportive in the past and we look forward to doing even more together in the future,” says Dirk Lueth, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Upland. “ENV’s and our existing investors’ contribution demonstrates a strong confidence that we are on the right path executing on our mission to build the largest digital open economy.” Upland has built a mobile platform for the metaverse mapped to the real world that will bring the future of the immersive web to life. Offering a wide range of activities for players and creators, including virtual property trading, world-building, collecting, and fun competitions like car racing, the platform enables the establishment of businesses in the Metaverse. Upland allows entrepreneurs to operate their own shops and contribute to a thriving digital economy powered by UPX, the native currency of Upland, and Spark, a utility token that fuels the value creation by the highly engaged community. To learn more about Upland, join the community from the website - www.upland.me and follow Upland on X (formerly Twitter) and Discord. Upland is also available for download on iOS and Android devices from the App Store and Google Play. Upland recently announced its plan to make its utility token Spark (converted to “Sparklet” on Ethereum) tradable on exchanges and published a White Paper which has already been approved by an 87% majority by the community. To read the Sparklet White Paper and follow the announcements of Upland’s utility token, refer to the Sparklet pages on the Upland website www.upland.me/sparklet.