The sale to Virbela co-founders Alex Howland and Erik Hill was completed in late November. It comes at a time when virtual worlds and the Metaverse are waning as topics of excitement.
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EXp World Holdings, the parent company of eXp Realty, has sold the Virbela platform that built the virtual metaverse environment, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The sale was completed on Nov. 29, the filing states. Virbela co-founders Alex Howland and Erik Hill (who also served as the company’s president and vice president, respectively) acquired the company from eXp.
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Howland and Hill continued to work at Virbela after eXp acquired the company in 2018. In exchange for the company they founded, the two executives forfeited a total of $252,100 in severance pay they were entitled to after being fired from eXp, according to filings. Once Virbela was discontinued, they were done.
However, the SEC filing does not mention any other payments made by Mr. Howland and Mr. Hill to reacquire Bilbera.
In a statement to Inman Friday, eXp said the deal puts it in the hands of “visionary leaders who are well-positioned to explore innovative ways to evolve and monetize application-based software.” It will ensure that the platform remains.”
“Key financial terms included the waiving of severance payments by the founders and the assumption of ongoing liability by the buyer company,” the statement added.
News of the sale was first reported by Investing.com in early December. Real Estate News reported on the matter this week.
Despite the sale, eXp will continue to provide virtual worlds to agents. Starting in 2024, agents will prefer “web-accessible platforms and AI-driven solutions” over app-based options such as Virbela, the company said in a statement. In response, the company “embarked on this change by focusing on Frame, a cutting-edge browser-based platform that provides unparalleled ease of access and collaboration.”
“FrameVR.io continues to power our virtual workplace, eXp World, which remains the cornerstone of our culture and global connectivity,” the statement continued. “This move is consistent with our commitment to innovation, ensuring our community can seamlessly connect and collaborate regardless of location, and strengthens eXp’s position as a leader in the virtual space.”
EXp first announced its acquisition of Virbela in 2018. At the time, the company did not say how much it paid for the platform it has used since 2016 to provide cloud-based virtual worlds to agents and staff. In the years following the acquisition, eXp and founder Glenn Sanford frequently touted virtual worlds as a key differentiator for the company. In 2020, Sanford gave an in-depth tour of the virtual world (which some observers likened to the video game “Second Life”) at Inman Connect New York.
But lately, eXp virtual worlds seem to have taken a backseat to other differentiators. Inman has reported extensively on brokerage firms’ recent battles for top agent talent, and eXp has often made headlines for winning the so-called recruiting wars. But new agents and team leaders rarely, if ever, cite eXp’s virtual world as one of the reasons they were drawn to eXp.
Last month, Inman also spoke with eXp Realty Chief Marketing Officer Wendy Forsyth about the ongoing recruitment for the Talking Talent series. The conversation touched on company culture, revenue sharing, and other topics, but Virbela, virtual worlds, and the Metaverse never came up in the conversation.
EXp’s move to focus on other aspects of its business appears to coincide with a widespread cooling of interest in virtual worlds. For example, in recent years, Facebook has started investing heavily in its Metaverse project. However, the project is reportedly set to cost billions of dollars by early 2024, and some reports suggested the company was quietly moving on from the concept. Today, this concept is rarely mentioned by companies like Facebook, eXp, and others as the next exciting technological frontier.
Update: This article was updated after publication with a statement provided to Inman by eXp.
Email Jim Dalrymple II