ANA NEO Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, President CEO: Mitsuo Tomita, hereinafter “ANA NEO”), which develops and operates ANA HOLDINGS Inc.’s (hereinafter “ANA HD”) virtual travel platform tentatively named “SKY WHALE”, announced that it has raised a total of USD 38.4 million1 from financial institutions and business corporations through third-party allotments, mezzanine investment, and syndicated loans.

ANA NEO’s platform, "SKY WHALE", is the world's first metaverse service for travel, planned and developed by the world-famous game creator Hajime Tabata as the chief producer. Tabata is mostly known as the director of Final Fantasy XV. It is created with the PEGASUS WORLD KIT, a tool for building high-quality metaverse spaces developed by JP GAMES, which Mr. Tabata is the president of.

In this round of funding, our business partners and financial institutions gave high evaluation marks to the new metaverse business model, which encompasses its vision for the SDGs. Our goals include regional revitalization in Japan through local production and expanding into global markets. The production of “SKY WHALE” also utilizes gamification, open innovation and advanced gaming technologies.

According to a business feasibility assessment conducted by a leading third-party evaluation organization in Japan, the platform has core competencies that are difficult to imitate, and is recognized as having a medium-term competitive advantage through integration with the ANA Group's customer base.

List of Financial Institutions

Going forward, we will further utilize the ANA Group's network to collaborate with financial institutions and government agencies that have contributed funds in the development of content that conveys the appeal of various regions in Japan, and accelerate the development of SKY WHALE.

1: The dollar amount is based on the exchange rate as of March 14, 2022. The original amount in JPY is 4.5 billion yen.

Contact: ANA NEO Co., Ltd. Capital Policy Team Email: info@ana-neo.com